Sinking Your Teeth Into A Strawberry
by SosoChoo
Summary: Ichigo meets Ryou Shirogane, a bad boy who got expelled from school for biting a girl. Ichigo is fascinated by him, and one day follows him to the park, where she witnesses something which could bind her into something life-changing. AU TEMPORARILY POSTPONED
1. The Strawberry's Obsession Begins

**I thought that i would make a fic based on Ryou and Ichigo, because i like that pairing a lot. But i wanted it to be a vampire one for some reason. The idea popped into my head while i was drying my hair. Hehe.**

**This one is short, but the following chapters will be longer. But i don't know how much longer.**

**Haha, some of you will know me as YangWoof or Cuddly Alien Bangles. I have once again changed my name. This new name will stay for at least a week, since i'm going on holiday. Yay!**

**Well enjoy x**

* * *

**Chapter One: The Strawberry's Obsession Begins**

Ichigo stood outside Maruhoshi Academy, waiting for her friend to exit the building. Ichigo didn't attend this school. She attended it's neighbour, Haruhoshi High School for girls. Ichigo and her friend, Minto Aizawa, went to the same Elementary and Junior High school, but split up when their talents were recorded on a piece of paper.

Ichigo and Minto both applied for Maruhoshi Academy, a private school which was like a boarding school in many ways. The students stayed their from Monday to Friday, having dormitories that they shared with three other students of the same gender. The students were free to leave for the weekend on Friday, but was free to stay if they wanted to catch up on work.

Minto was accepted at the school, but Ichigo failed the entrance exam, meaning that she wouldn't be able to attend the Academy. The girls still saw each other on the weekends, but other than that, they couldn't contact each other. Ichigo wasn't upset that she couldn't stay with Minto, but was discontent about the fact that her only option left was to attend an all girls' school.

There were three schools in the area of Tokyo which Ichigo lived in. One was Maruhoshi Academy, another was Haruhoshi High School for girls, Ichigo's school, and the last was Maohoshi High School for boys. The lads who attended that school were jerks in Ichigo's opinion. They were the type of guys who laid every girl they could set their eyes on.

Ichigo leaned on the metal fence of the Victorian styled building, growing impatient for the arrival of her friend. Students were already leaving the school, not forgetting to give Ichigo a dirty look because of the uniform she was in. What was wrong with her uniform? It was better than theirs.

The female students of Maruhoshi Academy had to sport a white blouse, covered by a bright yellow sweatshirt and had to wear a knee-length yellow skirt. The male students had to wear both the blouse and sweatshirt, but wore grey pants in place of the yellow skirt. Both genders wore a yellow tie. Looking at their uniform, Ichigo loved her's. All she had to wear was a grey pinafore in the style of a sailor's fuku.

No one was leaving the school now, making Ichigo wonder if Minto had left without her. Ichigo knew that if Minto was going to head home immediately after school, she would tell her first. Ichigo turned her head to face the double doors of the building, hoping she would see Minto waltz out of them and greet her with a 'Sorry I'm late. It will never happen again. Honest.'

Ichigo sighed as she turned her head to face the road. Expensive cars drove past Ichigo after they pulled away from the curb. Where was Minto?

"What're you doing?"

Ichigo turned her head. She was looking at a blonde lad who looked the same age of her. He had the most amazing blue eyes which could drown Ichigo if she continued to trap herself in them.

"I'm talking to you."

The lad walked closer, causing Ichigo's heart to beat faster with each step he took.

"Uh I-I uh I-uh-"

"Never mind." The blonde lad sighed, walking away from Ichigo.

"I'm waiting for a friend. You might know who she is." Ichigo finally answered.

The lad paused his steps and slowly turned to face Ichigo. A smirk grew on his face. "Will I now?"

Ichigo gulped. "Y-you might."

"What's her name?" The lad took a few steps forward towards Ichigo.

"Uh M-Minto." Ichigo stuttered, taking a small step backwards.

The lad refrained himself from laughing a little. He found Ichigo's actions hilarious. "Minto what?"

"Aizawa." Ichigo bit her lip. She felt intimidated by this guy, whoever he was. Why was she talking to a stranger in the first place?

"Hmm...Minto Aizawa..." The blonde looked deep in thought. "...I think I know who she is...does she have blue hair?"

Ichigo's eyes widened slightly. "H-hai."

"Yeah, I know her."

"Do you know where she is?" Ichigo asked.

The blonde took a step closer to Ichigo. "No idea."

He scanned Ichigo's figure discreetly. She was small in height, and thin with noticeable curves in all of the right places. Her red hair amazed him, and as he stepped closer to her, a scent of strawberries grew strong.

"Oh, okay." She sighed, not noticing that he was staring at her with fascination.

"You have a strong scent." The blonde told Ichigo.

Ichigo tilted her head to the side. "Gomennasai?"

"You smell of strawberries." He explained.

"Oh." Ichigo smiled. "Arigatou."

"What's your name?" He asked her.

"Ichigo. Ichigo Momomiya." Ichigo smiled. "And you?"

Shirogane. I'm Ryou Shirogane."

"Ichigo-chan!"

Ichigo and Ryou turned their head to see Minto run up to them. Minto had a suitcase in her hand, and a piece of paper in the other.

"Ah, Minto-chan!" Ichigo waved at Minto.

"Ichigo, mother said that I can stay over at your house tonight." Minto panted as she stopped running when she was near Ichigo.

"Great."

Minto shifted her gaze to Ryou, causing her eyes to widen. "Uh, come on Ichigo, let's go." Minto grabbed Ichigo's arm and dragged her away from Ryou.

"Okay." Ichigo waved at Ryou. "Sayonara!"

Minto looked back to see if Ryou was still in sight. Lucky for her, he wasn't. She released her grip from Ichigo and sighed. "Ichigo, never talk to him again!"

"Why?" Ichigo asked, shocked at Minto's order.

"You don't want to be seen talking to him." Minto yelled. "He has a bad reputation at our school. Got kicked out this morning. He came back to get his mobile or something."

'So that's why he had no bag.' Ichigo thought. "Why did he get kicked out?"

"Because he sent a girl to hospital." Minto answered. "You know Retasu?"

Ichigo nodded. Of course she knew Retasu. How could she forget the girl who helped her with her mountains of homework through the summer?

"Well." Minto began. "Retasu admitted to Ryou that she loved him, and he went crazy. He punched her, kicked her in the stomach and bit her."

"Bit her?" Ichigo repeated confused.

"Hai." Minto sighed as she began to walk towards Ichigo's house. Ichigo followed, wanting to listen to more of the story. "Well, when they found her, there was a bite mark on her neck, but no blood, but she was pale, like a ghost."

"That's strange." Ichigo commented.

"I know. It was amazing that Retasu is still alive after that." Minto sighed.

The two girls stopped outside Ichigo's home and entered the garden. Ichigo's front garden was filled with beds of red roses and iris'. Ichigo fished in her bag for her keys, knowing that her mother and father would still be at work. She looked down and noticed the piece of paper in Minto's hand.

"Hey, Minto," Ichigo turned to face Minto. "What's that piece of paper?"

"Huh?" Minto lifted the paper up to level with their faces. "Oh, this? You're suppose to fill one out in my school when you've witnessed an attack."

"An attack?" Ichigo's eyes widened. "You mean you saw that lad attack Retasu?"

"Hai." Minto sighed as Ichigo unlocked the front door of her house.

They both stepped in to the house. There was no carpet on the ground floor of the house, only laminate flooring. There were no walls either, all had been knocked down by the previous owner of the house. The cellar had been converted into a bedroom, Ichigo's bedroom to be exact, meaning that all of upstairs belonged to Ichigo's parents. Ichigo had her own bathroom downstairs, and her own exit to the back garden. She sometimes used this exit to escape from the house, but she had to climb over the fence if she wanted to get far.

"Want a drink, Minto-chan?" Ichigo asked, locking the front door.

"Uh, please." Minto answered. "Can I have a green tea?"

"Hai. Coming right up!" Ichigo said as she walked towards the kettle on the counter.

"Where can I put my suitcase, Ichigo?"

"You can put it on the guest bed in my room." Ichigo answered, waiting for the water to boil in the kettle.

As she heard Minto descend the stairs towards her room, Ichigo peered out of the window. She was thinking about Ryou, and why he attacked Retasu because she said that she loved him. Ichigo was confused at Ryou's actions towards Retasu, and wondered why he noted her scent. Why did he tell her that she smelled of strawberries? Should she consider that as a compliment? Or take it as an insult? Did he let other girls know what they smelt of?

Ichigo heard the click of the kettle and poured the water into a cup with a green tea bag in it. She slowly stirred the water, watching the colour change. When the tea looked strong, Ichigo removed the tea bag from the cup and threw it in the bin beside her. She then picked up the cup of green tea and took it to her room where Minto was.

* * *

"Oyasuminasai, Ichigo-chan!" Minto shouted across the room as Ichigo turned the lights off.

"Night." Ichigo replied as she climbed on top of her bed by the window.

Ichigo wasn't tired, so she decided to stare out of her window. The moon shone brightly against the velvet canvas known as the sky. The stars glimmered willingly, hoping to outshine the moon. Staring at the moon made Ichigo think about Ryou. She didn't know why, but she was mesmerised by him. She had only saw him once, and she didn't even know anything about him, only that he was somewhat violent. But she probably would've forgotten about him, if he didn't mention that she had a scent of strawberries.

Ichigo crawled under her bed sheets, her energy to stay awake was fading. She needed sleep, and lots of it. She had a busy day at school, and she had Ryou on her mind all afternoon. Why was he on her mind? What could she call it? Obsession? Admiration? Childish? She didn't know, but she knew one thing; she had to meet him again. And soon.

* * *

**Well, how was it? Good? Bad? Interesting? Appealing? Tell me via review!**

**Oh yeah, if any of you are readers who read 'Mew Mew Sakura! Metamorphosis!', i will tell you that chapter one is in the making! It should be online next weekend for definate. If not, i'm sorry but it will most likely be the weekend after. **

**Well, bye bye. I love you all. Mwah x**


	2. The Obsession Continues

**I got back early from my trip to Wales, so i decided to update! Hooray for the update!**

**I already have four reviews. That's good for me XD. Well, thanks a bunch to those reviewers:**

**Sar T Loves Ryou Shirogane**

**dbzgtfan2004**

**butterflyangellover14**

**unfashionably**

**Well, enjoy chapter two x**

* * *

**Chapter Two: The Obsession Continues**

Ichigo sat up in her bed with a yawn. She had just woken up from a dream which included herself and a certain blonde haired boy. Looking out of her window, she noticed that it was too early to start the day, causing her to pull her covers over her and snuggle into them like a sick child.

She could see Minto sleeping peacefully on the guest bed. She was facing the other way, so Ichigo couldn't decipher whether or not she was actually asleep or pretending. Ichigo shifted her gaze to the floor, where the light from the moon shone through the window. Staring at it made Ichigo feel tired, but not tired enough to close her eyes and drift off into dream land.

She sat up in her bed, staring at the door which lead to the back garden. She was eager to slip out of the covers and sneak over to it. She bit her lip, doubting her idea greatly. She might wake someone up if she opened the squeaky doors. She might slip up the stairs after the door, injuring herself in the process. Ichigo questioned herself. Why was she being cynical with herself? Why couldn't she think of any positive outcomes of entering the back garden? Was there any?

With a loud sigh, Ichigo made a decision in her head. Without waking Minto, she carefully slipped out of the bed covers and crept over to the door which took her to the outside. She flexed her fingers on to the handle, making sure not to make a sound, and cautiously pulled the handle down. Ichigo cringed at the slightest squeak of the door, almost ending with her falling on the floor out of shock. She looked over at Minto, who was still asleep, and sighed with relief. She had managed to keep quiet about pulling a handle down, now she needed to open the door.

She gently pushed on the door, removing it from the frame. Ichigo then opened it with caution, making sure she didn't wake everyone in the house. She had managed to open it without making the hinges squeak at all.

Ichigo was now outside. She climbed up the stone steps and gazed at the crescent moon. Clouds were forming around the moon, meaning that there was a high chance of the weather to be wet later on.

Ichigo sat down on the top step, turning her head around to face the garden. She stared at the greenhouse sitting on the left side of the garden. Inside grew fruit of different kinds. Ichigo always enjoyed the strawberries her mother grew every summer. It was Autumn, so the batch would most likely be ready to eat.

Ichigo stood up and shuffled along the path which ended at the greenhouse. Her feet were now cold from touching the concrete path, which was an icy temperature due to the air. She pressed her hand on the glass door, her fingerprints printing on the condensed fog on the glass. Her free hand wiped away the condensation blocking her view of the strawberries.

Ichigo slid the glass door open carefully, making sure not to make a sound which will wake anyone up. She shuffled inside the greenhouse and made her way to the strawberries in front of her. She picked one off the stem and sunk her teeth into it.

"Mmm...juicy." Ichigo mumbled as the strawberry's juice trickled down her chin.

She swallowed the first bite, then remembered what Minto had told her yesterday. She suddenly remembered what Ryou had done to Retasu, how he bit her and left no trace of blood behind. Ichigo quickly ran out of the greenhouse in a hurry, forgetting to close the glass door, and descended the stairs before entering her room.

Ichigo took some uneven breaths before closing her bedroom door and returning to her bed. The half-eaten strawberry was still in her hand, causing her to scream and drop it on the floor.

"Nh."

Ichigo froze as she stared over at a moving Minto.

"Oops." She whispered as Minto sat up in the bed.

Minto rubbed her eyes and turned to face Ichigo. "Ichigo," She let out a yawn. "What're you screaming at?"

Ichigo looked down at the strawberry on the floor. "I thought there was a bug on my strawberry." She lied.

Minto giggled. "You are so weird, Ichigo-chan."

Ichigo and Minto both began to laugh before hearing two sets of footsteps drawing closer to their room. Soon enough, the bedroom door burst open and Ichigo's parents were stood at the doorway.

"Are you two okay?" Mrs. Momomiya asked, worry filling her tone.

Minto and Ichigo looked at each other. "Hai."

Mr. Momomiya looked down at the strawberry on the floor. He looked more confused instead of worried. "Why is there a strawberry on the floor?"

Ichigo gulped. She wasn't suppose to eat the strawberries until her mother had picked them. "Uh-I-I-uh-"

"Ichigo," Her mother shook her head. "You know you shouldn't be eating the strawberries until I've picked them."

"Sumimasen." Ichigo bent down and picked up the half-eaten strawberry. "It won't happen again."

"Well?" Mr. Momomiya stared at Ichigo.

"Well what?" Ichigo tilted her head to the left in confusion.

"Why were you screaming?"

"Oh." Ichigo sighed. "I thought there was a bug on the strawberry."

Her mother and father looked at each other before laughing uncontrollably.

"Gomennasai, Momomiya-san, but what's so funny?" Minto asked.

Ichigo's parents managed to pause their laughter.

"I never knew that Ichigo was afraid of bugs." Mr. Momomiya chuckled.

"Well, back to sleep you two. Breakfast is in two hours." Mrs. Momomiya stated before exiting the room.

"Oyasuminasai, Momomiya-san." Minto shouted.

"Oyasuminasai!" Ichigo added as her father stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him.

* * *

"Ohayou, Ichigo-chan!" Minto said cheerfully as she sat up in her bed.

Ichigo was staring out of the window, watching the sun rise in all of it's glory. She didn't hear Minto greet her, making Minto think she was being ignorant. Minto huffed as she grabbed a pillow. She made sure Ichigo wasn't looking at her before launching the pillow at her face.

"Kyaa!" Ichigo jumped and fell off the bed with a loud thud.

"Ichigo-chan, what's up with you?" Minto asked angrily.

"Nothing, et toi?" Ichigo giggled.

Minto was always bad at French, so using French words frustrated Minto a lot.

"Don't you 'et toi' me!" Minto yelled. "Why did you ignore me?!"

Ichigo tilted her head to the side. "Did I?"

"Hai!" Minto screamed at her red-headed friend.

Ichigo looked down. "Sumimasen, Minto-chan."

Minto began to relax a little. "It's okay." She then walked over to her suitcase and pulled out her outfit for the day. "Now get ready, Ichigo-chan, we've got to be at the cinema for ten o'clock."

Ichigo groaned as she lay back on her bed. She wasn't in the mood to go to the cinema and watch a new release. She just wanted to sleep and dream about the mysterious blonde known as Ryou Shirogane. She wanted to know everything about him. She wanted to know what food he liked and disliked, what his hobbies were, she even wanted to know his shoe size.

"I can't be bothered." She whined.

Minto shook her head. "Lazy baka!" She grabbed Ichigo's feet and yanked her off the bed. "Come on Ichigo! Don't you want to see 'Banpaia no Kokoro'?"

"No!" Ichigo answered.

"But I thought you wanted to know what happens to Hikari and Yuki."

"I have an idea." Ichigo lifted her head to look at Minto. "Why don't you go and see it and tell me what happens to them?"

"But that's no fun!" Minto pulled on Ichigo's legs harder, causing her to fall off the bed. "Ichigo, please come. It won't be fun without you."

Ichigo sighed with defeat. "Fine. I'll go. Just be quiet."

"Yay. Arigatou, Ichigo-chan." Minto beamed as she let go of Ichigo's legs.

* * *

"Ohayou!" Zakuro yelled from the cinema entrance. "Ichigo-chan, Minto-chan!"

"Hey, Zakuro-san." Minto greeted as she ran up to her two friends, Zakuro and Purin.

Zakuro is Minto's role-model. She is a model for many popular designer brands which Minto can afford and wear. Zakuro was wearing a pair of white jeans and a pink top. Pink sandals covered her feet while her wrist was full of pink bangles. A light pink hair band was situated behind her bangs. All her clothes and accessories were designer, unlike her friend's attire.

Purin was poor, meaning that she couldn't afford flash clothes and accessories. She had four brothers and one sister to support as well as herself, so money for leisure was scarce. It was lucky for Purin that she had such loving siblings, who helped pay for her outing to the cinema. Purin's outfit consisted of a Chinese style outfit, nothing designer or expensive.

Ichigo and Minto appeared next to their two friends with tired looks on their faces. Zakuro and Purin looked at each other with a confusion.

"Why're you so tired?" Zakuro asked.

"Because of Ichigo." Minto answered with a yawn.

"Naze?" Purin asked.

"She was screaming because there was a bug on her strawberry." Minto answered.

"I never knew Ichigo was afraid of bugs." Zakuro stated.

"Can we just go and see the film please?!" Ichigo asked in a frustrated tone.

She knew that if the conversation continued, she would be made fun of by the three of them.

"Okay then. Here we go!" Purin yelled as she ran into the cinema.

Ichigo, Minto and Zakuro followed the excited pre-teen into the cinema.

"Zakuro-san, have you got the tickets?" Minto asked.

"Hai." Zakuro answered, lifting up her hand which held four tickets to see the movie.

"Great." Minto smiled.

Ichigo wasn't paying attention to the conversation her friends were having. She was too busy thinking about Ryou and if she would ever see him again. She was desperate to see him, even if it was for a nano second. She wanted to ask him plenty of questions which centred around his actions towards Retasu and the statement of her strawberry scent.

The three girls caught up with the blonde girl who was waiting eagerly at the cinema screen doors. A blonde lad was at the door, ready to collect the tickets and usher the viewers to their seats.

"Ichigo-chan, give the usher Purin's and your tickets while Minto and me get some popcorn." Zakuro said whilst handing Ichigo two tickets.

"Hai." Ichigo nodded her head as she took the tickets off Zakuro and walked towards the usher.

She let out a soft yawn as she handed the tickets to the usher.

"Arigatou." A familiar voice said as the tickets were removed from Ichigo's grasp.

Her eyes widened when she looked up at the usher's face. She recognised the face immediately, and couldn't help but smile at him.

"So we meet again." Ryou smirked at her.

"Hai." Ichigo smiled.

There was a moment of silence for the two teens until Purin jumped up in front of Ichigo.

"Come on, Ichigo 'nee-chan. The movie's gonna start." Purin stated as she yanked Ichigo's arm.

"Uh, Purin, go in without me for a minute." Ichigo ordered the younger girl.

"Okay." Purin smiled before skipping into the cinema screen.

Ichigo nervously laughed before gulping. "So," She began. "I didn't know you worked here. I've never seen you here, and I come here a lot."

"That's because today's my first day." Ryou stated as he leaned on his podium.

As he did this, the scent of strawberries grew stronger once more. He would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy the smell. He loved the smell. He loved it like a smoker loved cigarettes; like an addiction.

"You still smell of strawberries." Ryou noted, causing Ichigo's cheeks to flush red.

It was like she was waiting for him to say that, meaning she could ask the question which roamed around her mind.

"Why do you always tell me that I smell of strawberries?" She asked, trying not to sound annoyed.

Ryou shrugged his shoulders. "Because you do."

"Oh." Ichigo sighed.

She thought that there would be more to his answer. Either that or he couldn't be bothered to explain the answer to her. She was about to ask another question, when her name was called.

"Ichigo!" Minto shouted.

Ichigo turned to face her friend. "Hey, Minto-chan."

"Ichigo-chan, shouldn't you be in the screen with Purin?" Minto asked in an annoyed tone.

She had told Ichigo before not to talk to Ryou. Obviously, Ichigo didn't listen to what she said.

"Oh," She turned back to face Ryou. "Well I'll see you soon then."

Ryou smirked. "See you soon."

Ichigo walked into the cinema screen, looking back at Ryou before the doors closed. When she was in the screen room, she scanned the seats in search for Purin.

* * *

Minto watched as Ichigo entered the screen. She waited until the doors were shut before facing Ryou with a jealous look on her face. His smirk was still on his face, but was now aimed at Minto.

"Don't act like that with her." Minto ordered.

"Like what?" Ryou asked, the smirk still plastered on his face.

"Like you like her." Minto answered.

"But what if I do like her?" Ryou teased, causing Minto to scowl. "Chill out will you. Don't get so jealous."

"I'm not jealous!" Minto yelled, making a few heads turn her way.

"Are you sure about that?" Ryou chuckled.

Minto fumed. "Hai. Now please do me a favour and don't talk to Ichigo. Ever!"

"Why not?"

"Because I think she's beginning to like you and-"

"And you don't want to get jealous again and attack her like you did to Retasu?"

"Shush you baka! Do you want to spill our secret?!" Minto hissed.

Ryou smirked again. "Maybe I _will_ spill it to Ichigo."

"Like hell you will!" Minto screamed before entering the cinema screen.

* * *

Ichigo was sitting on the back row of the cinema, watching the movie with false fascination. She wasn't interested in the movie at all, knowing that Ryou was outside the screen. She just wanted to slip out of the screen and talk to him. She slouched in her seat as she closed her eyes.

She listened to the film. None of it interested her in the slightest. Sequels are always worse than the original. She suddenly became thirsty. She sat up in her seat and opened her eyes. She glanced over at her companions before sneaking out of the cinema. Ichigo saw this as a big chance to talk to Ryou without being disturbed by Minto who said he was trouble.

Ichigo didn't think he was trouble, she thought he was fascinating. She left the cinema screen in a hurry and searched for her obsession. Unfortunately for her, he was nowhere to be found.

* * *

**Well how was it? Good? Bad? Tell me via review!**

**I'll tell you this, i am never going to Wales again! I hated Outward Bound a lot. The food was horrible so i didn't eat anything, the beds in the dorms were uncomfy, so i found it hard to sleep, and i caught a cold whilst sailing in the pouring rain.**

**Anyways, do Ichigo's parents have names? I looke on Wikipedia, but that didn't mention them.**

**Would you like a preview so you get a taste of the next chapter? Here you go. Enjoy x**

* * *

"Are you stalking me?!" Ryou asked in an angered tone.

Ichigo had unintentionally followed him all day, but it wasn't her fault that her schedule was similar to his.

"N-no." She stuttered. "Not at a-all."

Ryou chuckled at her stuttering. He found her action funny when he intimidated her.

"Good." He took a step closer to her. "Because you don't want to be going where i'm going." And with that, he walked through the gates of the park, leaving Ichigo confused.

* * *

**Well, ta-tah for now, i love you all. Mwah x**


	3. Jealousy

**Hi to my readers, and sorry for not updating when i said i would. **

**I just honestly didn't know what to write, you don't know how many times i opened the document and just stared at it.**

**Well, i wanted part three to be finished so i could continue with the story, so i hope it's good.**

**Thanks to my reviewers:**

**Sar T. Loves Ryou Shirogane**

**chibivampire13**

**Wrathisred**

**XxLettieXPiexX**

**Well, enjoy x**

* * *

**Chapter Three: Jealousy**

Ichigo sighed as she leant against the wall beside the screen entrance. She was hoping that she could talk to him while her friends were watching the rest of the film, but she didn't think that he might have more important things to do. Ichigo scanned the cinema hall. She never did like the cinema. Not one bit. She did however find it more appealing just over an hour ago, when she found out that Ryou worked there. But not being able to find him made her dislike the place...again.

Ichigo slowly headed for the exit in need of fresh air. She began to feel tired through sitting down for over half an hour. How lazy of her. She was always up and about. The exit drew closer with every small step she took. She quickened her pace, just wanting to escape the building.

A sigh of relief escaped Ichigo's lips as she pushed against the glass door which lead to the outside. She quickly inhaled the fresh oxygen and placed her hand on her heart as she exhaled. With her other hand, she reached down for her bag and unzipped it. She fished inside it and quickly pulled out her mobile phone, but the phone charm got stuck on the zip. Ichigo let out a frustrated growl as she unhooked the charm. After freeing it, the phone fell onto the concrete pavement, making Ichigo growl once more.

She bent down to pick it up, but a shadow appeared over her. Ichigo tilted her head to the side as she straightened herself up and a hand reached out for her phone.

"Here." A familiar voice said.

Ichigo looked up to meet a familiar face. She mentally squealed, and tried her hardest to keep it inside and not let it go. Ichigo's gaze fell to her phone which was still in the person's hand. She gulped as she slowly reached for it.

"Er, thanks." She smiled as she took the phone into her own hands.

"The movie hasn't ended yet." He stated. "Why aren't you watching the end of it?"

Ichigo felt her face flush. "Well I-I uh," She began to think of an excuse as she placed the phone back in her bag. What could see say which would end his suspicion? Ichigo's eyes lit up when an excuse fell into her mind like a drop of rain. "I just needed some fresh air."

"Right." Ryou said, dragging the word slowly.

There was an awkward silence between the two teens. No one had anything to say to the other. Ichigo stared across the street while Ryou looked up at the sky.

"Ichigo!"

Ichigo turned to the glass doors of the cinema, where Minto and Zakuro were stood. "Hey, girls." Ichigo smiled.

The two girls approached her, both grabbing one of her wrists each.

"Are you coming, Ichigo?" Minto asked.

"Where to?" Ichigo asked, looking at her blue-haired friend.

"To the arcade." Zakuro answered. "Purin wants to have a go at the dance mat."

"Uh, I don't feel very well." Ichigo lied. "I'm just gonna head home and get some sleep."

"Oh." Minto frowned. She looked behind Ichigo and saw Ryou smirk at her. Minto quickly turned to face Ichigo. "Uh, Ichigo, if you're not well, you should get going now." Minto placed her hand on Ichigo's back and pushed her away from Ryou.

"Minto, I can walk by myself." Ichigo moved away from Minto and began to slowly walk away from her friends.

* * *

Ichigo wandered the streets of Tokyo alone. She was bored and lonely. She hadn't seen any familiar faces, not even anyone from school. She stopped walking and stood outside a Café. Ichigo peered through the Café window and saw her reflection.

She looked pale. Her cheeks didn't colour themselves with pinks and peaches like they normally did. Ichigo could've passed for a ghost at Halloween. Her hair looked greasy and messy. She didn't bother to put her hair up in her usual pony tails, she just kept it down. Her hair barely fell off her shoulders. It was slightly curled and it was evidently frizzy.

Ichigo sighed as she took a step forward, but accidentally walked into someone. "Oh, Gomennasai!"

"So we meet again?"

Ichigo looked up to see Ryou's face. A smile crept it's way onto her face. "H-hey, Ryou."

"Hey." He mimicked, slightly peeved.

"So, were you about to go in or something?" Ichigo took a step back so she wasn't blocking the entrance of the Café.

Ryou gave Ichigo a funny look before answering, "No I was just heading home."

"But shouldn't you be at the cinema?" Ichigo asked in a confused way.

"No." He answered simply.

"Oh," Ichigo whispered. "But I thought you worked there?"

Ryou sighed. "I only work there when I need the money."

Ichigo's expression turned blank out of confusion. "Whadd'ya mean?"

"If my mother won't give me any money then I work a certain amount of hours for how much money I need." Ryou explained.

"Oh, I see," Ichigo giggled. "So how much did you earn?"

Ryou shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno, 'bout 3,452 yen."

"And how many hours did you work?" Ichigo asked.

"A hour and a half." Ryou answered.

Ichigo's eyes widened with shock. "Really?" Ryou nodded. "Wow, that's a lot of money."

"It's not a lot, really." Ryou sighed as he looked through the glass window of the Café. "Hey," He waited to gain Ichigo's full attention before continuing. "Do you wanna get a coffee?"

Ichigo beamed. "Sure."

Ryou walked over to the Café entrance, followed by Ichigo who was mentally giggling. She was happy that Ryou asked her to get a coffee; she thought of it as a date more than anything else. Ryou opened the door of the Café and held it for Ichigo. Refraining from giggling with joy, she walked through the entrance, smiling a thank you to Ryou. He just growled, wanting her to walk faster through the door.

They both walked up to the counter, feeling the cool, jazzy atmosphere emitting from the Café. Soft jazz music was playing through the speakers while customers discussed art and politics. Ryou leaned on the counter, looking up at the menu displayed above. Ichigo followed his gaze, only she was taken aback by the many names of coffee.

She wasn't one who drank coffee; he preferred to drink tea or hot chocolate. Her eyes flickered to the brown haired woman at the counter, who was eyeing Ryou like he was eye candy. She flipped her hair over her shoulder as she picked up the pen that was resting behind her studded ears. Her name tag read 'Kana'.

"Can I help you?" She asked in a flirtatious voice.

"Yeah, I'll have a vanilla latte." Ryou answered before looking at Ichigo. "What do you want?"

Ichigo felt Kana's eyes on her as she looked up at the menu. She scanned it for something which sounded appealing to her taste. She shifted her gaze to Kana when she picked her drink.

"I'll just have a hot chocolate."

"Do you want to take it out or have it in here?" Kana asked, scribbling their order down on her notepad.

"Sure." Ryou answered.

"Okay then that's..." Kana paused her sentence as she calculated the cost. "942 yen, please."

Ryou fished in his pocket and pulled out the correct amount of money for Kana. He handed it to Kana, who made sure she felt his hand long enough to remember the touch.

"Arigatou." Kana smiled as she placed the money in the cash register. "Now if you'll just move along, your order will be ready shortly."

Ryou moved along to the end of the counter as the people behind it made his order. He turned to face Ichigo.

"Why don't you go and get us a table?" He asked in a demanding way.

Ichigo nodded her head and began to search for a table. The Café wasn't busy, so most of the tables were vacant. After looking at every table at least five times, Ichigo decided to pick a table which was situated by the window, presenting a clear view of the passers-by to her.

Ichigo propped her elbows up on the table as she rested her chin on the back of her hands. Her bangs draped over her eyes as she looked down at the wooden surface of the table. She stared down at the carvings in the wood, not focusing on them as she began to feel jealous. Kana was flirting with Ryou, and Ichigo couldn't help but dislike the idea of them two talking, or even looking at each other for that matter.

She sighed as she looked out of the window, asking herself why Ryou asked her to get a coffee. The more she thought about it, the more confused she got over what the answer could be. If it was because he was bored, did that mean that she was his way of becoming more entertained? If it was because he wanted to, did that mean he liked her?

"Here."

Ichigo looked up from her daze to see Ryou place a cup on the table in front of her.

She smiled half-heartedly. "Thanks."

Ryou sat down in the seat opposite Ichigo as she picked up her cup and took a small sip of the drink. As soon as the liquid touched her mouth, her eyes widened and she quickly placed the cup on the table so she could waft the air in front of her mouth.

"Ah. Too hot. Too hot." She forced out of her mouth as she continued to waft the air with her hand.

Ryou chuckled at her action as he took a swig of his own drink. He placed the cup down on the table and stared intently at Ichigo.

"What's wrong?" He asked her.

Her eyes flickered towards him, then towards the window. "Nothing." She answered.

"Nothing?" He repeated. "Ichigo, what do you take me for?"

Ichigo kept her eyes on the window while answering, "I dunno."

"You don't know?" He asked, the tone of his voice was accidentally intimidating. He let out a rigid sigh. "Ichigo, do you hate hanging around with me?"

Ichigo turned to Ryou. "N-no," She stuttered. "Why would you think that?"

Ryou looked outside through the window. "I dunno." He mimicked, causing Ichigo to silently laugh.

Ichigo sighed. "It's just," She bit her lower lip, debating whether or not she should ask him the question she longed to know the answer to. She slowly inhaled the oxygen around her. "I heard that you...bit a girl at your school," Ryou chucked, causing Ichigo to almost forget what she was saying. "Did you? Bite a girl?"

Ryou placed his palms on the edge of the table as he pushed himself away from the table lazily. "Hai."

Ichigo's heart beat increased. "N-naze?"

Ryou shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno." He answered. "I guess she was annoying me and biting her was the first thing I thought of to get her away from me."

"Oh," Ichigo gulped.

Ryou laughed a little. "Don't worry, I won't bite you."

"H-how do you know that you won't?" Ichigo asked, feeling quite frightened.

"Because," Ryou leaned closer to Ichigo. "Because you don't annoy me."

Ichigo felt her face turn red. "R-really?"

Ryou nodded. "You just make me laugh instead."

"I do?"

"Hai," Ryou sat up straight in his chair. "You're actions make me laugh all the time. When you get excited over the littlest things."

Ichigo lowered her head in shame. It wasn't her fault that she was like that, but it felt even worse when someone pointed it out to her. She picked up her cup of hot chocolate and cautiously sipped it. The temperature was cooler now, so Ichigo drank it quicker than she intended to. Within a few gulps, the cup was empty. Ichigo swallowed the last of the chocolate before exhaling, making a 'ah' sound.

Ichigo felt something vibrate in her bag; her phone. She quickly unzipped her bag and pulled out the phone, making sure the charm didn't hook itself onto the zip, and flipped the screen up without viewing the caller.

"Mushi mushi?"

"Ichigo, where are you?" Minto's voice shouted down the receiver. "We called round at your house, but no one's in!"

"Oh, sorry, Minto," Ichigo apologized. "I ran into someone on the way home and they invited me out, and I felt a little better so I tagged along with them."

"Oh, who're you with?"

Ichigo gulped. She remembered what Minto said to her about not speaking to Ryou, so it wasn't a good idea to mention his name as the person she was hanging around with. Ryou looked at her as she looked at him.

"Well, Ichigo?" Minto's voice brought Ichigo back to reality. "Are you going to answer or not?"

"Uh..." Ichigo began. "I'm just with some school friends." A smile spread over her face. "Yeah, that's it. I'm with some school friends."

Ryou couldn't help but laugh at Ichigo's answer to Minto. Ichigo looked at him, wondering why he was laughing at her. Ichigo heard Minto scowl at the other end of the phone before hanging up on her. Ichigo growled as she threw her phone back into her bag and stood up in her seat.

"Sorry, Ryou, but I have to go and find Minto." Ichigo apologized before walking over to the exit of the Café.

* * *

Ichigo panted as she sat down on the bench at the entrance of the park. She had been searching for Minto all day, but failed to find her. Ichigo placed her hand over her heart as she caught her breath. Foggy breath spilled out of her mouth as she exhaled. Goosebumps appeared on her arms and legs as the icy wind passed her. She curse herself for wearing summer clothes, even though it was November.

"I'd better head off home." She decided as she stood up from the bench.

Ichigo slowly made her way to the exit, looking up at the orange sky. It was around half past four in the evening, and Ichigo was already tired.

From a distance, she could make out a male walking towards the park entrance. Ichigo grew slightly scared, hoping that it wasn't a pervert who preyed on innocent females. Ichigo quickened her pace, hoping that she could just walk right past him without having to spark a conversation or give him an excuse to talk to her.

As she grew closer to him, she made out who the person was, and sighed with relief.

"Hey, Ryou!" She shouted.

She had seen him a few times today while she was searching for Minto, but felt too guilty for ditching him to shout him. Ryou stared at her in disbelief. Ichigo was sure that he was getting sick of her sight.

"Hey." He said as he grew closer to her. His voice had an irritated tone to it, which scared Ichigo a little.

"Ryou?" Ichigo gulped. "Are you o-okay?"

A soft growl emitted from Ryou. Ichigo took a step closer to him, wondering what was up with him.

"Ryou, are you o-?"

"Are you stalking me?!" Ryou asked in an angered tone.

Ichigo had unintentionally followed him all day, but it wasn't her fault that her schedule was similar to his.

"N-no." She stuttered. "Not at a-all."

Ryou chuckled at her stuttering. He found her action funny when he intimidated her.

"Good." He took a step closer to her. "Because you don't want to be going where I'm going." And with that, he walked through the gates of the park, leaving Ichigo confused.

Herself whether or not she should follow him. She needed to go home, but her curfew wasn't till half nine. Taking a deep breath, she decided to follow him.

* * *

Ichigo hid in between the bushes as Ryou stopped walking when a brown haired girl appeared in front of him.

"Hey." The girl said in a flirtatious tone.

Ichigo gasped as she recognized the voice in an instant. "Kana!"

"Hey." She heard Ryou say.

Ichigo listened to every ounce of their conversation.

"So, you said you wanted to meet me?" Kana said in her silky voice.

"Hai," Ichigo watched as Ryou placed a hand around Kana's waist. "But let's go somewhere _less crowded _in the park."

"Okay." Kana giggled as the pair walked away.

Ichigo frowned as she watched Ryou pull Kana closer to him. How could he hold her like that? How come he never held her like that? Ichigo sighed as she mentally admitted something to herself; she was truly jealous.

Ichigo had no choice but to hide in the shadows and follow the pair further into the park. She had to know if anything was going on between them, and if there was, put a stop to it as soon as possible. There wasn't many people in the park, so Ichigo couldn't blend in with other people. She did walk past one couple, which made her even more jealous.

"Do you like this scent?" The female asked her partner.

She sprayed some perfume which was in a fancy vile. Ichigo was caught in the spray's path and was caked in the stuff, making her smell of pine.

"What a weird scent for a perfume." Ichigo thought as she quickened her pace so she was away from the couple.

As Ichigo continued walking on the same path her obsession took, the more darker the sky looked. There was an eerie presence to the path as the trees towered over it. Ichigo wondered if she should continue the path or leave it, but her curiosity was once again getting the better of her.

"Well, it won't hurt to continue." Ichigo decided, continuing her non-rhythmic steps. "I've got this far so why should I give up now?"

After a few minutes of walking, she finally caught up to Ryou and Kana, who were leaning against a wide tree. Ichigo eyes began to water as she saw Ryou lean in towards Kana and lock his lips with hers. She wrapped her arm around his neck as his lips slowly and hungrily trailed down to her neck. Ichigo heard Kana groan faintly as Ryou kissed her neck, then she let out a voiceless scream.

Ichigo looked at her in confusion as her eyes fluttered open and shut. She slowly crept closer, praying that neither of them would see her. She hid behind a tree a few feet away from them, getting a clearer view of Ryou. She gasped at the sight she saw.

Ryou's teeth were planted in Kana's neck.

Ichigo took a step back as Ryou removed his teeth from Kana's neck, obviously finished with her. Kana let out something inaudible as she fell to the ground, lifeless and limp. Ichigo's hand flew to her mouth in fright as she took a step back, but tripped over a tree root and fell to the ground.

"Ouch!" She unintentionally yelled.

Her eyes widened as she cursed her last action. Why did she shout? That would blow her cover for sure. Ichigo attempted to stand up, but felt a pressure on her head which forced it down. Her face collided with the tree root before her head was lifted back up. She whimpered as she slowly turned her head to look up. Tears fell from her eyes when she saw Ryou.

"Please don't hurt me!" Ichigo cried softly as she closed her eyes and bit her lip.

There was silence, except for Ryou's heavy breathing. Ichigo prayed that the fate that Kana had didn't apply to her as well. Ichigo tightened her eyes as she pictured the event that just happened, with only one difference; she was in Kana's position.

The grip on her head was loosened as Ryou's breath evened out. Soon enough, he let go of Ichigo, causing her to fall to the floor. She picked herself up, panting as she turned her head to face Ryou.

"Y-you're not gonna, h-hurt me, a-are you?" Ichigo pleaded.

* * *

**Well, how was it? Good? Bad? You know the drill! Tell me via review! **

**I've got into a show called Vampire High. I've only watched three episodes but it's really good! Haha i like vampires, and i get called a vampire by my friends. Hehe. I'm also reading New Moon. It took me two days to read Twilight, but it's taking me months to read New Moon. Hmm...i wonder why XD**

**Well, see you soon. Love you all. Mwah x Bejabbers! (Haha, that's my new word XD)**


	4. Comprehending The Situation

**Well, i updated quicker. Yay for the updates!**

**My space bar is being dodgy. The spaces don't work sometimes, meaning that i have a lot of mistakes, so i'll just scan this chapter for any mistakes.**

**Also, thanks to my reviewers!**

**tokyo girl 05**

**Sar T. Loves Ryou Shirogane - Yes, Ryou is a vampire :D**

**Jocelyn**

**unfashionably**

**Suuz112**

**DayDreamGirl BluBaby**

**Well, enjoy chapter four x**

* * *

**Chapter Four: Comprehending The Situation**

Ryou looked down at Ichigo, teeth showing and dripping with Kana's blood. How did Ichigo see him? How could he not sense her presence? Surely he could easily recognize the strawberry scent Ichigo had, but not this time. Instead, he smelt an odd pine smell. Maybe that was the scent was emitting off Ichigo.

Tears fell from Ichigo's eyes. Ryou sensed fear on her, but he didn't want her to fear him. He enjoyed her company, so having her fear him was bad. He walked around her so he was in front of her and crouched down. Ichigo's gaze drifted from the floor to him and back again. She was scared to look him in the eye.

Ichigo kept her eyes on the floor after taking a good look at his eyes. Why were his eyes red? Why did he go round biting people? Ichigo only knew one thing that bit people; vampires. Was Ryou a vampire?

Ichigo's chin was lifted up, her gaze forced to fixate on Ryou. She tightly shut her eyes, wanting her undesired fate to happen quick so it could be over and done with.

"I'm not gonna hurt you."

Ichigo was taken aback by Ryou's soothing voice. She hesitantly opened her eyes, gazing into Ryou's deep blue eyes. A faint smile graced her lips at the sight of his normal eye colour. Did that mean that he had calmed down?

Ryou returned Ichigo's smile. He knew that she was slightly calmer than she was approximately three minutes ago, but he could understand that she was still shaky over the ordeal.

"R...re..."

Ryou looked down at Ichigo who was shakily trying to spill out a sentence. The look on her face made Ryou feel upset for her. Why did she have to witness the attack? He wouldn't have cared if it was any other female. He could've just sucked her blood and left her to die, but he couldn't do that to Ichigo.

Ichigo was one of the only girls he was acquainted with that didn't flirt with him. All of the girls usually flipped their hair or bat their lashes at him, which only tempted him into feeding off them, like he did to Kana. Kana was definitely in a flirtatious mood with him, making her an easy target.

"R...real...really?" Ichigo finally dragged out of her lips shakily.

Ryou lowered his eyes, ashamed of his nature. He had scarred the only girl who was normal around him for life.

"Really." He managed to repeat in a low voice.

With a shaky movement to match Ichigo's voice, he stood up. Reluctantly, he outstretched his hand, hoping that Ichigo would take it and help herself up. At first, she just stared at it in disbelief. She seemed to be frozen in a trance-like state which she couldn't be broken out of.

Both waited for a few minutes until Ichigo finally reached out for Ryou's hand. The tips of her fingers brushed against his palm, causing her to be in a state of awe at the softness of his skin. Her hand was frozen on his, making Ryou turn impatient. He unintentionally grabbed her hand roughly and pulled her up to her feet.

Ichigo pulled her hand away from Ryou's and took a few small steps backwards. She was fearing for her life. Well who wouldn't after discovering that someone she knew was a vampire?

"Sumimasen." Ryou apologized with a whisper.

"I...it's okay." Ichigo stuttered, refraining herself from looking him in the eye.

There was an awkward silence between the two teens. Ichigo fidgeted with her skirt, unsure of what to say. She wanted to ask him a lot of things which centred around his behaviour. Is he a vampire? Is that why he bit that girl? Is that why he bit Retasu? What did it mean for her now that she knew a vampire?

"S-so..." Ichigo gulped as she attempted to ask him one of the burning questions.

"So?" Ryou repeated, wanting Ichigo to finish her sentence.

Ichigo's eyes widened before she took a step back. "I-I have to...g-go!"She stuttered before turning round and running up to the path.

"Ichigo! Wait!" Ryou ordered.

Ichigo ignored the blonde's orders and ran down the park path and scanned the area for the nearest exit. She didn't get far because she ran into something, ending with her falling on the floor. She cried as she sat up on the path, rubbing her eyes with one of her dirt covered hands.

"You can't get away from me, Ichigo. I'm faster than you."

Ichigo looked up to see Ryou looking down at her with a smirk on his face. She turned her head away, closing her eyes tight as tears continued to leak from them. She was indeed frightened. She comprehended the situation she was in, but wished that she was just at home with her mother and father, watching crazy soap operas whose plot lines were far from reality.

"Now, Ichigo, lets make a deal."

Ichigo hesitantly turned her head, opening her eyes, so she was facing the intimidating blonde. "What...kind of d-deal?" She shakily asked.

Ryou crouched down in front of Ichigo before answering, "Well, what do you think I'm going to ask you?"

Ichigo gulped. "I...i don't k-know."

"I'll give you a clue," Ryou began. "What did you just witness ten minutes ago?"

Ichigo's eyes widened. "Y-you're not g-gonna b-bi-bite me...a-are y-you?"

"I will," Ryou answered, waiting for Ichigo's reaction. He smirked at her facial expression; her mouth was open wide and her eyes were filling with tears. "But," He saw her expression fade slightly. "I won't if you keep quiet about what you saw. Can you promise me that you won't blab to anyone about this?"

Ichigo frantically nodded her head. "I promise!" She cried out.

"Good," He smiled. "Now come on. I'll walk you home."

He extended his hand out in front of Ichigo. Once again, she looked at it with disbelief. How could he change from someone who was threatening her to someone who offered to walk her home? Ichigo gulped as she held his hand firmly and picked her self up. "Arigatou."

"You're welcome." Ryou moved his hand away from Ichigo's. "Now come on, you have to direct me to your house."

"Okay." Ichigo said with a whisper as she slowly walked beside Ryou.

* * *

The two teens exited the park, both silent and deep in thought.

Ryou was deciphering whether he should tell Ichigo that he was a vampire, or deciding not to since she might have figured it out. He sighed, breaking the silence and making Ichigo jump.

"So," He began. Ichigo looked up at him. "Now you know that I'm a vampire."

"Yeah, I guess I do." Ichigo laughed nervously, unsure of what to say around him in case it drove him into biting her.

"Is there anything you want to ask me?"

Ichigo looked down, then up into the sky as she took a deep, nervous breath. Many questions coursed through her mind, but she couldn't decide which one to begin with.

She exhaled her breath before asking, "How did you become a vampire?"

Ryou looked down at Ichigo. "I got bit."

"Who off?" Ichigo asked.

"My father." Ryou answered. "But he's not my biological father. My real parents abandoned me when I was a baby. Apparently, I was tied up in a blanket and threw into a river."

"That's awful." Ichigo gasped.

Ryou sighed. "Well that was a long time ago, so there's no need to feel sorry for me."

"I-I wasn't I-I-"

"Chill, Ichigo." Ryou chuckled. "Well, as I was saying, I must've been in the river for...a week before someone found me."

"And that someone was...your adoptive dad?" Ichigo asked.

Ryou nodded. "Hai. He was researching the types of rocks that were on the river bed when I drifted along in a soaked blanket. He paused his research to take me to the hospital since I was suffering from malnutrition. When I was treated he asked the doctors if he could adopt me since I had nowhere to go. So after recovering in the intensive care unit, I was taken to his home in Korea and lived a happy life there, not knowing that my adoptive dad was a vampire until I was seventeen."

"So how long ago did you find out?" Ichigo asked.

Ryou shrugged his shoulders. "About forty seven years ago."

Ichigo's eyes widened with shock. "For...fort...forty se...sev...seven...y-years ago?" She gulped. "How old are you?"

"I'm physically seventeen, and I don't age." Ryou explained. "But if I did, I would be...sixty four."

"Wow." Ichigo exhaled. "So are you immortal?"

"You could say that," Ryou said slowly. "But there are ways in which I can die."

"There is?" Ichigo gasped.

Ryou nodded his head once. "The wooden stake always works, that's how my uncle died. And being exposed to sunlight for a long period of time can damage my health."

"So, your dad bit you when you were seventeen?"

"Hai."

"Was it painful?" Ichigo asked.

"Probably," Ryou answered. "But it was forty seven years ago. It's hard to remember it."

"Of course." Ichigo looked down, almost feeling sorry for Ryou. "Hold on."

Ryou looked at her with confusion. "Nani?"

"If you've been seventeen for forty seven years, has no one noticed this?" Ichigo asked.

"Noticed what?" Ryou asked, not understanding how Ichigo phrased her question.

"That you've been seventeen for years?"

Ryou chuckled. "Ichigo, have you heard of a thing called 'moving'?"

"Hai." Ichigo nodded.

"Well, that's what we did." Ryou explained. "We've been moving across the continent for years."

"We?" Ichigo repeated.

"Our clan." Ryou rephrased.

"Oh." Ichigo stopped walking when she came to a set of traffic lights with a pedestrian crossing light next to it. "How many are in your clan?"

Ryou pressed the button, making the 'wait' sign light up. "Ten."

"Ten?" Ichigo repeated. "Are they all boys?"

Ryou shook his head. "There are three girls."

"Are they nice girls?"

"You could say that." Ryou answered.

Ichigo grew silent as the light on the pedestrian crossing flashed, indicating that it was safe to cross. She crossed over the road fast, followed by a slow-paced Ryou.

"Which way now?" He asked as they paused their journey at a corner.

"This way." Ichigo answered, pointing towards the path on her right.

Ryou followed Ichigo as she walked along the street. "Are you finished asking questions?"

"Hai." Ichigo nodded.

"Okay."

Before the two teens reached the end of the street, Ichigo stopped outside a house with a flower-decorated garden.

"Well," She began. "This is my house. Thanks for walking me home."

"Don't mention it." Ryou turned around. "See you round." And with that, he walked away in the direction in which they came from.

Ichigo sighed as she opened the gate to her garden and walked up to her house. She had an exhausting day, and she was tired through crying. Crying. She had just remembered that she had been crying. She hoped that her eyes weren't red and stained with tears. If they were, her parents were going to ask her annoying questions.

She pulled the handle down on her door and pushed the door open before shouting, "I'm home!" to her parents.

Her voice echoed around the ground floor as she waited for a reply. There was none.

"Mother? Father?" She walked up the stairs to her parents' room, but they weren't there. "Where are they?" She asked herself as she descended the stairs. "They could be in the garden..." She ran past the kitchen and collided with the French doors that lead to the back garden. She peered through them, scanning for her parents, but they weren't there.

"Ichigo?"

Ichigo turned around at the sound of her father's voice.

"Are you here?"

"Dad! I'm over here!" She exclaimed as she rubbed her head. It was throbbing after the collision with the doors. "Is mother with you?"

"No, she went out to look for you." He calmly answered. He then raised his voice. "Where have you been?! We agreed that you'd be home by five so we could go and visit your grandmother! It's now half seven!"

"R-really?" Ichigo asked.

The last time she checked the time, it was half four, and that was when she was sat outside the park, just before she spotted Ryou enter the park to meet Kana. Time had flew by since then. Ichigo thought the time was something like half five, not half seven!

"Really!" Ichigo's father pulled out his phone from his pocket and held it out in front of him. "Now phone your mother and tell her why you were home late!"

Ichigo took the phone from her father and searched the phone book for her mother's number. She pressed call when she found it and waited anxiously for the sound of her mother's voice.

"Honey! Have you found her? I can't find her anywhere!"

Ichigo felt guiltier by the second as her mother's cries sunk into her. "Mother, it's me."

"Ichigo? Is that you?" her mother asked.

"Hai."

"Oh, thank goodness." Her mother sighed. "I'm on my way home now. See you in a minute Ichigo!"

When her mother hung up, Ichigo handed the phone back to her father. "Sumimasen."

* * *

"Well Ichigo? Where were you?" Her mother demanded an answer.

"Well, uh...you see...uh..." Ichigo didn't know how to answer her mother's question.

She couldn't exactly say 'oh I was just witnessing a vampire attack. No need to worry' and expect to stay alive. She promised Ryou that she wouldn't tell anyone that he was a blood-sucker. But what excuse could she use on her parents?

"...I just lost track of time so-." Ichigo lied, hoping that her parents would discontinue the game of twenty questions.

"Ichigo, don't lie to us." Her father growled. "Why were you home late?"

"I just told you! I lost track of time!" Ichigo shouted.

"Don't shout at us you ungrateful girl!" Her father yelled.

"Well stop shouting at me!" Ichigo retorted before pushing past her parents and running down the stairs towards her room.

"Where're you going?" Her father asked, voice still raised.

"To my room!" Ichigo answered with a yell before opening her bedroom door.

She walked inside and slammed the door shut, eyes full of tears. She leaned against the door as the tears flowed down her face. She hated it when her father yelled at her. It just made her cry and think about running away, but she didn't have the guts to run away. She had such a cosy life, and living away from that would be unbearable for her.

She slid down the door, choking on her sobs. Her new position was her sitting against the door, head buried in her knees which were brought up towards her chest. She needed to take her mind off today's events, but how do you take your mind off a vampire?

* * *

**Well, that was chapter four. Not as long as chapter three, but yeah. **

**Lol i was nearly in the same predicament that i was in with chapter three. I almost didn't know what to write for this, hence the boring ending. Well anyways, i haven't got any further with New Moon, maybe an extra few pages and that's it. I want to get volume one of Yugi-oh for some reason. Hmm, how strange. **

**My mother got angry at me for asking for volume one of Yugi-oh. She said 'why don't you finish your other collections first before starting new ones?'. So i answered saying 'well, the InuYasha and Fruits Basket onesaren't out yet, i'm not collecting all of Naruto, i can't get all of Sailor Moon unless i pay pure money on Amazon, MagicalXMiracle was boring, Vampire Doll was crap, I can't get all of Beyblade and you don't want me wasting money on Tokyo Mew Mew again so i'm starting anew collection.'**

**Want a preview? Here's a small one for chapter five.**

* * *

Ichigo froze, staring at a lifeless Retasu. Minto had said that she moved last night during her visit, but Ichigo didn't believe her. She wouldn't believe her unless she saw it for herself, hence her visit.

"H-hey, Retasu." Ichigo slowly made her way towards Retasu. "How are you?"

The beeping sound that showed Retasu's heartbeat quickened.

Ichigo stared at the machine next to her, concentrating on the increasing heart rate.

"R-Retasu?"

The beeping sound stopped. Ichigo gulped. Why did it stop? Did she make it stop? The beeping started again. It started off slow, then rapidly increased. The beeps were now nano-seconds apart from each other. Ichigo gulped again as she extended her hand towards Retasu's hand. She got a shock when Retasu's hand grabbed Ichigo's.

"A-are you awake?"

Retasu squeezed Ichigo's hand tight;y, causing her to yelp out in pain. Retasu's eyelids opened, revealing red, emotionless orbs.

* * *

**Well, bye bye, i love you all. Mwah x **

**Remember to review! I love it when you review, sharing your thoughts with me is brill!**

**Bejabbers!**


	5. Meeting Up With Friends And Foes

**Hi again! **

**Wow, five chapters! Yay!**

**Thank you to all who review! Your support is amazing!**

**Sar T. Loves Ryou Shirogane**

**XxLettieXPaixX - Noo! I spelt your pen name wrong in a thank you! I am soo sorry :'(**

**Melody Moon - Spyre - Melody.K**

**Well, enjoy x**

* * *

**Chapter Five: Meeting Up With Friends And Foes**

"_Ichigo!"_

_Ichigo flinched at the call of her name._

"_Ichigo!" The familiar voice shouted louder._

"_H-hai?" _

"_You've spilled my secret!"_

"_N-no I d-didn't...I-"_

"_Ichigo! You know what happens next!"_

_The blonde's blue eyes changed to red, emotionless eyes as he roughly grabbed Ichigo's arm._

"_No...Ryou p-please...I-I di-didn't say any...anything to-"_

_Ichigo gasped as she felt two sharp fangs pierce the flesh on her neck. She stopped breathing out of shock as she felt the blood that travelled through her body escape through her neck. Her eyes flickered open and shut as she felt light-headed. Her eyelids grew heavier as her blood supply grew dangerously low._

_Ichigo closed her eyes as Ryou removed his fangs from her neck and pushed her to the floor. Her eyes remained shut as she plunged to the floor, which wasn't there. Instead, she continued to fall. _

* * *

"Kyaa!" Ichigo screamed as she sat up.

She looked around frantically and sighed when she recognized her surroundings. She was in her room, on her floor. Her hand flew to her neck, where Ryou 'bit' her, but no evidence was there that proved that she got bit.

"It was just a dream."

She sighed with relief as she shakily stood up. She shuffled over to her bedside table to check the time that was displayed on the neon digital clock sitting on the top of it. '22:34'. Ichigo growled at the time as she collapsed on her bed.

Ichigo was scared to close her eyes, in case the same dream haunted her again. What did the dream mean? Was that her fate? To be bit and plunge into darkness? Did this mean Ryou didn't trust her?

Ichigo was disrupted from her trail of thoughts as her phone vibrated.

Ichigo growled as she sat up to unzip her bag and pull out her phone. She didn't bother to look at the caller ID as she vigorously flipped the phone open.

"Mushi mushi?"

"Ichigo! You'll never guess what?!"

"Minto? What's wrong?"

"It's Retasu," Minto panted. "She stirred when I said her name!"

Ichigo gasped. "Really?"

Ichigo had forgotten about Retasu and what happened to her....when she got bit by Ryou...and survived! Did that mean that Retasu was now a vampire?

"Ichigo? You still there?"

"Huh?" Ichigo shook her head, her bangs following suit. "Hai, I'm here. You're not serious...are you? About Retasu."

"Of course I'm serious!" Minto screamed. "If you don't believe me, meet me in her hospital room at ten. I'll text you the details." And with that, Minto hung up the phone.

Ichigo sighed as she flipped her phone screen down and collapsed once more onto her bed. She was still nervous about replaying the dream which involved her and Ryou. She threw her head onto her pillow and screamed into it. She was frustrated. She didn't know what was happening in her life. Twenty four hours ago she was a girl thinking about a guy who fascinated her, now she's afraid of the same guy!

* * *

Ichigo stepped out of the elevator and walked along the corridor of the hospital. It was five minutes to ten and she was meeting Minto at Retasu's hospital room at ten. Ichigo searched for the number of Retasu's room as she thought about what would happen if Retasu was awake and a vampire. Ichigo sighed as she stopped outside Retasu's room which was situated at the far end of the corridor.

* * *

"I'm going now, see you later, mother!" Minto yelled as she stepped into her shoes and walked up to the door.

Minto grabbed a key from the stairs and used it to unlock the front door. She opened the door and got a shock when she saw a familiar face standing there.

"Can we talk?"

* * *

Ichigo took a deep breath as she pushed the door open. She didn't know what to expect when she entered the room. She didn't have any clue on what her state would be and how severe or minor it was.

Ichigo froze, staring at a lifeless Retasu. Minto had said that she moved last night during her visit, but Ichigo didn't believe her. She wouldn't believe her unless she saw it for herself, hence her visit.

"H-hey, Retasu." Ichigo slowly made her way towards Retasu. "How are you?"

The beeping sound that showed Retasu's heartbeat quickened.

Ichigo stared at the machine next to her, concentrating on the increasing heart rate.

"R-Retasu?"

The beeping sound stopped. Ichigo gulped. Why did it stop? Did she make it stop? The beeping started again. It started off slow, then rapidly increased. The beeps were now nano-seconds apart from each other. Ichigo gulped again as she extended her hand towards Retasu's hand. She got a shock when Retasu's hand grabbed Ichigo's.

"A-are you awake?"

Retasu squeezed Ichigo's hand tightly, causing her to yelp out in pain. Retasu's eyelids opened, revealing red, emotionless orbs.

* * *

"What do you want Ryou?" Minto asked with a sigh as they both entered her room. "I'm suppose to be meeting Ichigo at the hospital."

"It's about Ichigo, actually." Ryou stated as he sat down on Minto's double bed.

Minto walked over to the window that displayed a clear view of the city. "What about her?"

Ryou sighed. "She knows."

Minto's eyes widened as she turned to face Ryou. "Knows what?"

Ryou lay back on Minto's bed, placing his hands behind his head. He turned his head so he was looking directly at Minto, sending a smirk her way.

"Guess."

Minto gulped, knowing what he meant. "A-are you serious?"

Ryou nodded his head. "She saw me feeding off this girl who I met at a Café."

"You idiot!" Minto screamed. "Do you realize what you have done?! How could you not sense her?! Now our whole clan could be at stake!"

"She doesn't know about you," Ryou stated. "But she knows that there is a clan of us."

Minto growled. "And how exactly did she find out about our clan?"

"I told her." Ryou answered.

"You imbecile!" Minto walked over to Ryou and slapped him hard across the face. "How could you be so stupid?! If she blabs that's it!"

"But she won't blab."

"Beg pardon?"

Ryou's smirk grew. "She knows what awaits her if she tells."

"Good." Minto exhaled. "Now, is there anything else you wanted to see me about?"

Ryou sat up on the bed and stood up. He walked up to Minto so he was stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her neck.

"Maybe." He answered as he began to lean in towards Minto's face.

Before he could do anything, Minto grabbed his hands and lifted them up so his arms would remove themselves from her neck.

"Ryou, don't." She whispered, walking towards her vanity table.

"Why not?" Ryou smirked. "Are you no longer infatuated by me?"

"No I'm not!" Minto unintentionally shouted.

Ryou was slightly taken aback by Minto's shouting, but soon recovered when his smirk grew wider.

"Are you sure about that?" He asked her.

"Hai." Minto nodded as she sat down in front of her vanity table.

Through the vanity mirror's reflection, Minto saw Ryou head for the door.

"Well that's all I came for," He opened the door. "Make sure you don't keep Ichigo waiting." He stepped out of the room and closed the door, leaving Minto alone with nothing but her reflection.

She sat in silence for a few minutes, confused by Ryou's behaviour. Why was he acting like _that _all of a sudden. It had been months since he was nice to her. What was he trying to prove? Minto let out a scream as she punched the mirror, causing the shards of glass to fly everywhere.

Minto's hand was shaking as she moved it away from the shattered mirror, spilling her blood everywhere. Small slivers of the glass had planted themselves in her cuts. The only way she could get them out was if she went to the hospital and got her wound treated.

Sighing, she stood up and walked over to the bedroom door.

* * *

"R-Retasu?" Ichigo stuttered as she continued to look into Retasu's red eyes.

Retasu opened her mouth slightly, revealing her small fangs. Ichigo took a step back, scared as Retasu looked at her hungrily.

"Retasu, it's me. Ichigo."

At the mention of Ichigo's name, the red in Retasu's eyes began to drain away, showing her soft blue eyes again.

After a small while, Retasu finally spoke. "I-Ichigo?"

Ichigo's eyes widened with joy. "Hai. It's me. Ichigo."

Ichigo was happy that Retasu no longer looked at her with the emotionless, red eyes. The fangs were gone, much to her joy.

"W-what happened?" Retasu asked.

"I'm not sure." Ichigo lied. "I wasn't there when you got sent here."

"Oh." Retasu sighed.

Ichigo looked up at the ceiling. "So, how've you been since I last saw you?"

"Good." Retasu answered, smiling. "And yourself?"

Ichigo returned her smile. "I'm great."

"Good." Retasu giggled.

She tried to sit up further in the hospital bed, but stopped when the side of her neck began to burn. "Gyaa!" Her hand flew to her neck and she felt two scabs there.

"Retasu?!" Ichigo stepped closer to Retasu. "Are you okay?"

Retasu cried out in pain as her neck continued to burn. Ichigo ran out of the room in search for a nurse or doctor. She scanned the corridor and luckily spotted a nurse walk towards the elevator.

"Help!" Ichigo cried out, getting the nurse's attention.

Ichigo smiled as she saw the nurse run up to her as fast as her legs would take her.

"What's wrong?!" She shouted as she grew nearer towards Ichigo.

"It's my friend!" Ichigo answered. "She's in pain!"

Ichigo stepped to the side as she let the nurse pass her so she could get to Retasu.

"Retasu, what's wrong?" the nurse asked in a worried tone.

The nurse was small and slightly curvy. She looked around twenty seven years of age and had her brown hair in a tight bun. Her tag read 'Nami'.

Retasu didn't answer the nurse's question. Instead, she continued to scream out in pain, now showing her fangs. Ichigo gasped as she took a step back away from Retasu.

Nami turned to Ichigo with a puzzled look on her face. "What's wrong dear?"

Ichigo couldn't answer. She lifted her arm up, pointing at Retasu who had suddenly turned ravenous. Nami continued to send a puzzled gaze towards Ichigo until she felt something pierce her neck. Ichigo screamed as she watched Retasu tackle Nami to the ground as she sucked at her neck, draining the blood out of her veins.

* * *

Minto sat in the waiting room of the hospital, waiting for the triage nurse to see her so she could be treated. She looked down at her blood-stained hand, not fazed by the pain emitting from it. After being bit by her previous infatuation seven months ago, pain didn't bother her in the slightest.

She sat back in her chair, wishing that time would move faster. It was boring, just sitting there, waiting for a random person to treat her wound. She let out a tiresome sigh as she stood up. She stretched her arms up, making sure she didn't open the wound more, and stepped forward, only to be taken aback by someone running past her with red hair.

"Ichigo-chan?" Minto looked after the red haired girl and was relieved to find out that it was Ichigo.

The red-head stopped running at the call of her name and turned around to face Minto.

"Ichigo what's wro-"

Minto paused her sentence when Ichigo grabbed her hand and ran out of the hospital.

"We have to get out of here!" Ichigo panted.

"Naze?" Minto asked, trying to remove her hand from Ichigo's firm grip.

"Retasu...bit...the nurse." Ichigo dragged out of her lips as she caught her breath.

* * *

Ryou was in the park, sitting on a bench as he began to think. Minto's reaction wasn't what he expected from her. She used to love it when he tried to kiss her, but for some reason, she was less than pleased. What had gotten in to her? Why was she being moody all of a sudden?

A sigh escaped his lips as he stood up and walked along the path. He had no destination. He went wherever his feet took him. He asked himself why he tried to kiss Minto in the first place? Was it to get her annoyed? Or did he secretly long to touch her lips once more? It had been seven months since he last kissed Minto, on the same night that he bit her, and forced her to join his clan. He grew scared of kissing her after that, for some reason.

He stopped walking when he saw a familiar face stand in front of him. This familiar face was tall; he had to be at least six foot. Ash blonde hair draped over his dull green eyes which were staring intently at Ryou. He sported a black jumper and combats, which were hidden under a leather trench coat. Large black boots protected his feet.

"Akira." Ryou said to himself.

"Ryou." The blonde, known as Akira, called.

Both teens stared at each other, intimidating the other with their glance. Neither blinked or moved, both statue-like. A few minutes past as passers-by gave the two teens funny looks, wondering why they were staring each other down. Akira sent a mischievous smile towards Ryou as he took a few steps towards him.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" Akira said in a monotone voice.

"Too long." Ryou replied, a hint of sarcasm in his low voice.

"Hn." Akira stopped walking when he was in front of Ryou.

Both considered each other rivals since they first met three years ago in Korea. They disliked each other instantly, and fought every time they saw each other. They were both equally strong and evenly matched, meaning there never was a winner in their feuds.

Akira smirked as he balled one of his fists and threw it at Ryou's stomach.

* * *

"I don't get it, Ichigo." Minto said in a confused tone. "Why did Retasu bite the nurse?"

"I don't know, that's what I'm saying!" Ichigo wailed as she crossed the street.

The two girls had been discussing the event with Retasu all day, not pausing for a lunch break or anything. Both teens had an idea as to why Retasu bit the nurse, but both had their reasons for not saying anything.

Ichigo knew about vampires, and that they become one if they survive the attack and the bite is left untreated. Ichigo didn't know that Minto knew about this as well, and promised Ryou that she wouldn't say anything to anyone, even if that anyone was her best friend.

Minto knew about the vampires, and knew that Ichigo knew about them too. However, Ichigo didn't know that she too was a blood-sucker, and hoped to keep it that way.

The two girls stopped outside of Ichigo's house.

"Well, I'll see you on Friday." Ichigo smiled as she wrapped her arms around her friend, embracing her in a big hug.

Minto hugged her back before continuing down the street. "See you on Friday, Ichigo-chan!"

Ichigo walked up to the front door and opened it quickly.

"I'm home!" She exclaimed.

There was no answer.

"Are they out looking for me again?" Ichigo asked herself as she took her shoes off and walked over to the kitchen area.

She walked up to the counter and saw a piece of paper with writing scribbled over it.

_Hey Ichigo,_

_Your father and I have gone to your aunt's for the week. Uncle Garu has passed away and she's really depressed. _

_There's money for food in case the supply in the fridge runs out._

_Make sure you're not late for school._

_Love, Mum and Dad_

Ichigo beamed as she skipped over to the fridge. She was happy that she had the house to herself for one week. She opened the fridge and pulled out a carton of orange juice. She flicked open the lid and began to drink the contents.

"This week is gonna be great!" She thought as she gulped down the orange juice.

* * *

It was half nine and Ichigo was curled up on the sofa watching a foreign soap opera. Even though she didn't understand it, she was enjoying it a lot. She grasped the storyline easily and knew what was happening with the characters.

She was about to lie down on the sofa when there was a knock on the door.

"Who's here at this time of the night?" Ichigo asked herself as she pushed herself off of the sofa and made her way to the door.

She unlocked the door and opened it. When the door was fully open, her eyes widened at who she saw and what state they were in.

"Ryou?" Ichigo gasped. "What happened to you?!"

* * *

**A bit of a strange chapter if you ask me but...you know...yeah.**

**Lol i've got some questions to ask you my lovely readers. So please answer them :D**

**1) Which pairing do you prefer? RetasuXPai or KishXIchigo (I am asking this because i have two ideas in my head for a story but don't know which one will appeal to you better)**

**2) Should i remake my 'Mew Mew Sakura! Metamorphosis!' story?**

**3) Should i make a sequel to 'How Are Babies Made?'**

**Would you like to read another preview? Well, here it is!**

Ichigo packed up the first aid kit and carried it back to the cupboard it lived in. She sat down next to Ryou.

"Ryou?"

He turned to face her, showing her that she had his full attention. "Hai?"

Ichigo took a deep breath. "I want to meet your clan."

**Well, please review. (You know the drill. If it's crap, say why and then i can improve from my mistakes)**

**Bye bye. Ta-tah. I love you all. Mwah x**

**Bejabbers!**

* * *


	6. A Poor Excuse For A Vampire

**OMG I can't believe how long it's took me to update this story! Sumimasen!**

**Well, here it is, chapter six. I hope you like it. It's a bit shorter than the last few, but you know...yeah.**

**Anyways, i got reviews again! I am so grateful! Thanks a lot. Do you all really like it?**

**Thanks to the reviewers:**

**Melody Moon - Spyre - Melody.K**

**tokyo girl 05**

**Sar-T.-Luvs-her-bf-Aden-C.**

**XxLettieXPaixX**

**Jocelyn**

**kitty hinata**

**Hope you enjoy Chapter Six x**

* * *

**Chapter Six: A Poor Excuse For A Vampire**

"What happened to you?" Ichigo asked again as she stepped to the side of the doorway, allowing Ryou to walk in to her house.

Ryou ignored her question as he stepped inside the house, wincing at the pain emitting all over his body.

"I'll get the first-aid kit!" Ichigo said in a hysteric voice as she ran towards the cupboards in the kitchen area.

"Ichigo," Ryou began with a sigh, "I didn't come here to be nursed, I-"

Ichigo slammed the cupboard door shut as she ran up to Ryou. "Sit down so I can tend to your injuries." She ordered, grabbing his arm and dragging him towards the couch in the middle of the room.

Ryou didn't protest as Ichigo pulled him to the couch. He didn't the mind the attention she gave him. He liked the attention. It was like a breath of fresh air for him.

"How did you get so many cuts?" Ichigo asked in shock as she examined his wounds.

Scratches decorated his right arm, blood seeping through them slowly. His lip was busted, complementing his black eye.

"I was in a fight." Ryou answered, whispering his words as he looked down.

"Who with? Is that person okay? Who started the fight? How did it-"

Ryou clasped a hand over Ichigo's mouth. "Please, do me a favour. Stop asking me so many questions."

Ichigo nodded as Ryou removed his hand from over her mouth. She exhaled as she opened up the first-aid kit. She took out some anti-septic spray and shook the bottle to check the amount of liquid still in it before applying it to the scratches on Ryou's arm. Ryou winced at the pain.

"Sumimasen!" Ichigo said, raising her hands in the air so they were level with her head.

"It's okay." Ryou hissed as he looked down at his arm that was dripping with ant-septic.

Ichigo grabbed a tissue and gently began to press it on the wounds. "So, who was you fighting with?"

"A rival." Ryou answered, looking away from Ichigo as he flinched at the pain coming from his arm.

"A rival?" Ichigo gasped. "As in a...vampire rival?" Ryou nodded. "So there's more like you out there?"

"Hai."

"How many more?" Ichigo asked, interested in the subject.

Ryou cautiously shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno, 'bout two hundred vampires in twelve clans-"

"Wow." Ichigo exhaled, pausing the movement in her hand while she was in a state of awe. "And your clan is one of the twelve?"

"Hai."

Ichigo nodded her head. "And is there social classes within the clans?"

"Whadd'ya mean?" Ryou asked with a puzzled expression.

"Well, is there a clan that's better than others?" Ichigo rephrased.

"You could say that." Ryou answered.

It was now Ichigo's turn to be confused as she tilted her head to the side. "Does that mean there are ranks in clans?"

"Hai." Ryou answered with a sigh.

Ichigo continued to clean the scratches on his arm. A faint blush appeared on her cheeks when she had to steady his arm by lightly grabbing a hold of his well-trained muscles on his upper arm.

"How high up is your clan?" Ichigo asked, finishing cleaning his arm.

"Third."

"So, that means your clan is...powerful?"

Ryou nodded as he looked down at the scratches on his arm. It was hard to think that they were recent; they now just looked like faded scratches. No blood was seeping through them as Ryou moved his arm freely.

"Wow, Ichigo, you cleaned them up really good."

"A-arigatou." Ichigo smiled, taking the compliment as a sign of flattery. "Do you want a drink?" Ichigo asked him as she stood up.

"Nah, it's okay." Ryou answered as he sat up, but let out a hiss of pain whilst doing so.

"Ryou? Are you okay?" Ichigo asked frantically as she hurriedly walked to the front of the couch so she was facing Ryou.

Ryou placed his hand at the side of his rib cage as he let out another hiss of pain. "I'm fine."

"You don't look it," Ichigo frowned as she crouched down in front of Ryou. "Do your ribs hurt?" He didn't answer her. "Can I have a look, Ryou-kun?"

Ryou sent a soft stare her way. It was the first time she had added a honorific to the end of his name, making him think if she did it so she could look at the side of his ribs where it hurt. He let out a sigh before rolling up his shirt, revealing purple bruises spotted up and down the side of his rib cage, causing Ichigo to gasp with worry.

"Oh no, Ryou-kun, you're full of bruises," -She placed her index finger on the lower lip.- "And I have no witch hazel. Do you want some pain killers?"

Ichigo slid the first-aid kit closer to her and picked up a box of pain killers with no prescription name on them. She shook the box, hearing the tablet holders move along with it. Without waiting for an answer off Ryou, she took out two tablets and passed them to Ryou before standing up and walking over to the sink to get a glass of water which would help the tablets go down. She handed him the glass after he placed the two tablets in his mouth and waited patiently as he sipped it and swallowed both the water and the tablets.

Ryou grimaced as he handed Ichigo the glass which had half less the amount of water it previously contained. "Arigatou."

Ichigo smiled as she walked over to the sink and carefully placed the glass inside it. "Uh, Ryou-kun," She walked back over to him and sat on the floor in front of him.

"Hai?"

"How far away do you live?" Ichigo bit her lip out of nervousness.

She felt weird asking him this question, for some reason. Like she was being cheeky, but it was too late to think about that now, because she had already asked him.

"On the other side of town," He answered. "Naze?"

"Because..." -Ichigo fiddled with the seam on her jumper.- "...I don't want you walking far to your home in the condition you're in."

"Ichigo, I'm not disabled." He stated.

"But something could happen to you on your way home, and you might not be able to help yourself because you're already injured-"

"Ichigo," He sighed with exasperation. "I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" She asked. "Because, if you want, you can stay here for the night and recover a little so you'll be a bit more okay tomorrow."

"Hmm..." Ryou now looked deep in thought.

Ichigo sat there, still, waiting for an answer off of him. She longed for him to accept her offer, so she could have some company from someone other than her parents. But something else in her mind wanted him to decline the offer she made. She bit her lip as she awaited an answer.

"I'll be okay walking home. I can call someone to pick me up." Ryou then looked around the room. "Do you have a phone I can borrow?"

Ichigo blinked before answering, "Oh, hai," she stood up and walked over to the phone. She picked it up from it's stand and carried it over to Ryou who held his hand out to grab it. "Here you go."

"Arigatou." Ryou smiled quickly before dialling a number.

Ichigo sat down on the floor as she watched Ryou dial a number and hold the phone to his ear, waiting patiently for the person to pick up. As he began to talk, she began to think about what his friends would be like. Would they be nice? Are they vicious? Ichigo suddenly wanted these questions to be answered, and there's only one way to do that; meet them. But she couldn't just demand a visit, She would need someone's permission first, she would need Ryou's permission.

Ryou ended the call and handed the phone back to Ichigo.

"Someone will be here in ten minutes."

Ichigo stood up, "Okay." Ichigo packed up the first aid kit and carried it back to the cupboard it lived in. She sat down next to Ryou.

"Ryou?"

He turned to face her, showing her that she had his full attention. "Hai?"

Ichigo took a deep breath. "I want to meet your clan."

She looked down and bit her lip as she waited for an unwanted reaction from Ryou. Lucky for her, none came.

"Okay."

Ichigo looked up with a shocked expression on her face. "R-really? Y-you won't mind?"

Ryou shrugged. "I'm not bothered, to be honest. You're the one who wants to meet them. Why should I mind?"

Ichigo gulped. "W-well I uh, I-I-"

Ryou couldn't refrain himself from laughing at Ichigo's stuttering, causing Ichigo to send him a puzzled look which stopped her from speaking with half words.

"What's so funny?" She asked in a confused tone.

Ryou managed to pause his laughter before answering, "Nothing."

Ichigo tilted her head to the side as she watched Ryou stand up, wincing occasionally through the pain in his ribs.

Ichigo turned her head to the front door when she heard a loud car horn beep.

"That's my ride." Ryou stated before making his way to the door.

Ichigo ran to his side and helped him walk to the door. "Will you be okay?"

Ryou looked down at her as she opened the front door. "Of course I will."

"Good." Ichigo smiled as she stepped to the side, letting Ryou walk out of the house.

"See you tomorrow, Ichigo."

"Oyasuminasai." Ichigo watched as Ryou slowly walked down the garden path towards the Honda Civic parked outside her house.

* * *

Ryou carefully climbed into the passenger seat of the car and closed the door behind him.

"Who's she?" The driver, Satoshi, asked, staring at Ichigo with curious eyes.

Satoshi looked nineteen years old. He had white blonde hair that complemented his fair skin tone. He had bold green eyes that sparkled in the reflected moonlight.

Ryou turned towards Ichigo who was closing the front door of her house. "A friend."

"A _human _friend." Satoshi corrected with bitterness dripping off his tongue like ice cream. "She could be dangerous if she finds out about us, Ryou. Make sure she-"

"She already knows." Ryou stated calmly.

Satoshi's eyes widened as he turned to face Ryou. The seriousness on his face told Satoshi that he wasn't lying.

"Are you mad?!" Satoshi growled as he glared infuriatingly at Ryou. "She can't be trustworthy with our secret! Other clans could find our location through her!"

"Well, one clan knows we're here already," Ryou said as he yanked his seatbelt across his body and buckled himself in. "And that was without her help. How do think I ended up like this?" He asked, motioning to the cuts and bruises on his body.

Satoshi glanced upwards towards the rear-view mirror, anger portrayed on his features. "Who's clan?"

Ryou sighed. "The Aoi clan."

Satoshi growled as he slammed his balled fist onto the steering wheel. "You baka! How do they know that we're here?"

Ryou shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know."

Satoshi started the car. "Ryou. That girl. What's her name?"

"Ichigo."

Satoshi drove away from Ichigo's house. "Make sure she doesn't interact with any other clans."

"But how will she know who belongs to each clan?" Ryou asked, looking back at her house through the outside mirror.

Satoshi concentrated on the road as he thought of an answer. "We'll show her to our clan," He began. "Then if anyone looks suspicious to her who isn't from our clan, we'll tell her to ignore them."

Ryou gave Satoshi a sceptical look. "You really think she'll ignore someone who's a vampire? After what she saw the other day, she'll fear for her life if she ignores one."

Satoshi sent a quick glance towards Ryou. "What did she see the other day?"

"She saw me feeding off another girl."

Satoshi shook his head. "You are a poor excuse for a vampire..."

Ryou didn't bother to retort as he knew what would happen to him if he did. Satoshi may be a newer member of the clan than Ryou, but he was far more stronger. Before Satoshi got bit, he worked in his father's gym, meaning he could use the equipment without a membership pass. His father died on Satoshi's nineteenth birthday, meaning that he owned the gym. A few days after his father's death, a new member stayed at the gym for a while longer, leaving him and Satoshi alone. Satoshi got bit, binding him into the life of a vampire, which he hated at first until the first girl arrived in the clan.

Ryou always resented Satoshi; he was stronger, intelligent and got all of the girls, whereas Ryou had only a half of Satoshi's strength, he was poorly educated and was the second choice for the girls if Satoshi didn't like them enough to date them. Ryou grew more jealous each day, causing him to test their abilities in a fight, which resulted with Ryou having to be hospitalized for five weeks.

"...We will bring that girl to our home." Satoshi continued to speak. "We'll let everyone know tomorrow that she's coming and that she knows about us. That way, none of them will try to kill her, and if they do, it's our job to keep her safe. We'll make sure that everyone is nice to her, for our clan's sake."

"Right." Ryou sighed as they drove further into the darkness of the night.

* * *

**What did you think? Good? Bad? Let me know, via review! Lol i hope you're liking this fic as much as i like writing it :D**

**I'm not writing a preview for the next chapter because i have two ideas for the next chapters so i need to decide which one i'll use before i write it up :D**

**See you all soon (I hope XD) and don't forget to post a lovely review :D**


	7. A Pawn In A Vampire's Game Of Chess

**Well, i went with neither ideas, so i hope that this one is better than the other two :D**

**Thanks to the reviewers:**

**Suuz112**

**Sar-T.-Luvs-her-bf-Aden-C.**

**KotomiOfTheDarkness**

**MANGApunk - i honestly don't know lol, but in my story, you can die from a vampire bite, but if you don't, you're a vampire :D**

**tokyo girl 05 - i get what you mean lol, but i don't know the word either, but i feel like i should...XD**

**kankananime123**

**Well, hope you enjoy this chapter x**

* * *

**Chapter Seven: A Pawn In A Vampire's Game Of Chess**

Ichigo let out a sigh as she watched Ryou drive off with his friend. She closed the front door, locking it after, and walked to her room.

"I wonder what it will be like to meet his clan..." She said to herself as she opened her bedroom door. "...I hope that they're nice like Ryou. And I hope that they don't mind if I meet them, because I'm different from them."

Ichigo glanced down at her digital clock; it read 22:24.

"I guess I should go to sleep now," Ichigo decided as she climbed into her bed. "I have school in the morning, how pleasant is that."

She turned on her side, facing the window, as she drifted off into a calm sleep.

* * *

"Can you walk any slower, Ryou?" Satoshi barked in a sarcastic tone as he helped Ryou walk toward their home.

"It's not my fault I got into a fight!" Ryou replied with agitation.

"And it's not my fault you lost your fucking fight!" Satoshi retorted as he opened the front door.

Both teens entered the large house to see Minto run up to them.

"What happened to you, Ryou?" She asked with a screechy voice.

"I was in a fight." Ryou answered.

"With someone from another clan." Satoshi added before shoving past Minto and entering one of the rooms on the left hand side of the hallway.

Minto watched as Satoshi entered the room before turning to Ryou. "Who were you in a fight with?"

"Akira." Ryou answered, avoiding eye contact with Minto.

Minto's face grew serious, but seeing the physical state Ryou was in, she decided not to make a fuss about the fight. "Come on, let's get you upstairs."

Minto helped Ryou walk up the stairs. She began to wonder why he was acting silent. It was unlike him to not talk to her; he was always trying to wind her up in some way or form. Minto avoided looking at him as they finally made it to the top of the stairs. She flung his arm over her shoulder and walked with him to his room.

She twisted the door knob on his bedroom door and quickly opened it. She walked him into his room and gently placed him on the bed that sat in the middle of the room.

"I'll be downstairs if you need me." Minto said as she hurried out of the room, wanting to break free from the awkward silence.

* * *

Ryou watched as Minto as she left the room. As soon as he heard the door click when she closed it, he lay back on the bed, replaying the end of the fight in his mind.

"_Face it, Ryou, you're weak." Akira taunted as Ryou tried to sit up. "You can't beat me. You never could and you never will."_

_Ryou sighed as he wiped the blood away from his busted lip. "What're you doing here, Akira?"_

_Akira crouched down in front of Ryou, "That's none of your business."_

_Ryou scowled as he tried to stand up. He looked at Akira, seeing if he had any injuries. There wasn't many. He had a bruise on his arm and a few minor scratches on his face. _

"_You can never defeat me in battle, Ryou. You dobe." Akira laughed as he walked away in a fast pace, leaving Ryou alone on the park path. "You're a poor excuse for a vampire."_

"They're right." Ryou whispered. "Akira's right. Satoshi's right. I'm not worthy to be a vampire."

* * *

"How is he, Minto?" Satoshi asked as Minto entered the living room.

"He's keeping quiet." Minto replied, looking down at the floor as she walked to the centre of the room.

"Feh, serves him right," Minto and Satoshi turned their heads to the doorway to see Oujou standing there with a smirk on his face. "He's always causing trouble with the others so why should we feel sorry for him when it's his own fault."

Oujou got bit at seventeen, making his physical age the same as Ryou's. He had red hair that seemed to stick up in every direction, and had dark, emotionless eyes which hid behind dark shades. He had a low voice which complemented his heartless nature.

"Don't say that Oujou." Monika said in a soft tone as she entered the living room after Oujou. "It's not Ryou's fault that he has a rival."

Unlike Oujou, Monika had a sensitive nature. She cared for her clan like they were her biological family, who she lost when she was sixteen years of age, a few months after she was bit by the clan leader. She had two toned hair; black on top and crimson on the bottom layers. She was really thin, she could pass for an anorexic teenager. She had no visible curves and had a heart-shaped face. Her skin was pale, making her chocolate eyes stand out.

"So you're saying Ryou doesn't deserve to get battered by a member of the Aoi clan?" Oujou said in a monotone voice as he glared at Monika.

"Are you saying that he _does_ deserve to be beaten up by a member of the Aoi clan?" Monika retorted, her soft voice not faltering once.

"I asked you first." Oujou stated.

"Enough!"

The four teens turned to the doorway again to see their clan leader, Keiichiro Akasaka.

"Akasaka-san!" Minto gasped.

It was rare to see their leader interact with them. Usually, he just left them to go about their business, so there must have been an important reason for him to be in the same room as the other clan members. Keiichiro had a gentle and calm demeanour, one you wouldn't expect for the leader of a vampire clan.

"What brings you here, Akasaka-san?" Monika asked in her soft tone of voice, slightly feared by the more superior vampire.

Keiichiro turned to face Minto. "Your friend, Retasu Midorikawa, she got bitten, hai?"

Minto nodded. "Hai. S-she was in the hospital and woke up today. My friend told me that she bit the nurse who died earlier today."

Keiichiro nodded his head. "Is this friend Ichigo Momomiya?"

Minto nodded once. "H-hai."

"And that girl knows about our existence." Satoshi added.

"I know." Keiichiro nodded his head slowly.

"We should bring her over to meet us." Satoshi continued. "We don't want that girl meeting up with other clans, so if she knows who's in our clan and she meets someone who seems suspicious, she'll know to stay away from them."

Everyone's facial expressions were filled with confusion.

"What was that, Satoshi?" Monika asked.

"You need to stop talking gibberish and start making more sense." said Oujou as he stood next to Monika.

"I know what he means." Keiichiro stated.

"You do?" Monika blinked.

Keiichiro nodded once. "We don't want this Ichigo girl talking to vampires who do not belong to our clan, so if she meets our clan members she will know not to talk to any other vampire."

"So when will she be here?" Oujou scowled.

"Ryou and me will pick her up tomorrow." Satoshi answered.

"Monika," Keiichiro waited to gain Monika's full attention. "Let the others know that this Ichigo girl is meeting with us tomorrow."

"Hai." With one swift turn of the heel, Monika left the room.

Oujou followed after her, leaving Minto, Satoshi and Keiichiro alone in the room. Satoshi turned to face Keiichiro. He looked closely at the smirk on his face, the rarely displayed smirk that told Satoshi that Keiichiro was thinking up a mischievous plan to use on Ichigo.

"What're you thinking, Akasaka-san?"

Keiichiro glanced over at Satoshi. "This Ichigo girl will be very useful to us. She could even be used as bait."

"Akasaka-san!" Minto yelled. "Are you saying that you want to endanger Ichigo-chan?!"

"Not necessarily _endanger_," Keiichiro answered in his calm tone of voice. "But she will come in handy when we need to know the locations of the other clans that happen to be in the area, like the Aoi clan. She can help us find their hideaway."

* * *

Ichigo let out a sigh as she locked the front door of her house. She had a lack of sleep because she was too busy worrying over Ryou. Was he okay? Did he get home safe? Did his injuries heal? Many questions ran through her overworked mind as she walked through the garden gate.

"Ichigo!"

Ichigo turned her head to see Ryou walk up to her. "Ah, Ryou-kun. Are you feeling any better?"

Ryou nodded before grabbing a hold of her arm. "Come on, Ichigo."

"Ryou, where are you taking me?" Ichigo asked, not bothering to try and break free of his grasp.

"You wanted to meet the other clan members, right?"

"Hai."

"So you're going to meet the other vampires."

"Nani?!" Ichigo said in a shocked tone of voice. "I-I c-can't go now! I have school!"

"Tough." Ryou retorted.

Ichigo stood still, causing Ryou to falter in his steps.

He turned to face Ichigo, "What're you doing?" He asked, looking at her with a puzzled expression.

"Education comes first, Ryou," She stated. "I don't want to meet your clan if I have to do it during school time!"

Ryou scowled as he stared intimidatingly at Ichigo's serious face, hoping that he could get her to change her mind. After a minute of glaring at each other, Ryou admitted defeat with a sigh and let go of her arm.

"Meet me outside Maruhoshi at three." And with that, he left her alone on the street.

Ichigo watched as Ryou walked away. She sighed with relief at the fast recovery of his wounds. She shook her head as she looked down at her wristwatch; it read 07:57.

"No!" She gasped. "I'm gonna be late!"

* * *

It was lunchtime and Ichigo sat down at a table while her friends got their lunch. She let out a soft sigh as she opened her bag and searched for the bag of strawberries she had brought in from home.

"Did you hear about that girl who worked in the Café?"

"Yeah I did, she was found in the park dead yesterday morning."

"I know, poor Kana."

At Kana's name, Ichigo's eyes widened. She turned around, in the direction the conversation came from and saw three girls in the year above her.

"Kana died?" Ichigo asked.

The three girls looked at Ichigo.

"Hai." One answered in a solemn tone.

Ichigo gulped. "H-how did she die?"

Ichigo mentally slapped herself for asking this question. She knew very well how she died. She was a witness. But she couldn't tell anyone that, because she might be blamed for her death.

"Beats me." The second girl answered, shrugging her shoulders.

"But didn't the forensic scientists see two bite marks on her neck?" The third girl asked.

"I don't know, I didn't see the report." The second girl answered.

Ichigo turned around to face her lunch, letting out a sigh as she began to think about Kana. It wasn't her fault that she died. She must've been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her fate might have been different if she didn't meet Ryou in the park that night. Ichigo began to think about what might have happened if it was her who walked in the park with Ryou. Would that mean that she would be dead?

* * *

"2:45," Ichigo sighed as she walked along the edge of Minto's school. "I'm early."

Ichigo sighed as she leaned on the fence enclosing the school, wondering why she had to meet Ryou at this particular place. She glanced at her watch every few minutes, hoping that time would fly by as she waited for Ryou to turn up.

"How long does three o'clock take to appear?" She whined as she walked up towards the front doors of the school. "He didn't even specify _where_ around here I was suppose to meet him!"

"You're actually gonna bring her along with us?" Ichigo heard Minto ask.

She turned her head to view the side of the school where Minto was stood with a blonde lad. Ichigo couldn't make out who the blonde lad was, but she had an idea on who it was.

"We can't go back on what Akasaka-san said to us," The blonde, who Ichigo now knew was Ryou, answered Minto. "And besides, she wants to meet us. She asked if she could meet the clan last night."

"There talking about...me?" Ichigo said as she changed her view on the two teens.

"She does?" Minto gasped. "B-but she c-can't meet them, she-"

"You don't want her to meet them because you don't want her to know that you're a vampire."

Ichigo let out a small shriek. "Minto's a vampire?!"

"It's not just that." Minto sighed. "I just don't want her to get hurt. Why does Akasaka-san want to use her?"

"He doesn't want to use her," Ryou corrected. "He just wants her to be on our side. He wouldn't hurt her. He knows better than to hurt her for his own benefit."

"For your sake, you better hope so." Minto began to walk in Ichigo's direction.

Ryou grabbed a hold of her wrist, disabling her from walking any further.

"Ryou, let go of me!" She ordered.

Ryou twisted Minto's arm and pushed her onto the wall, holding her wrist above her head. "Do you really think I would put your best friend's life at risk?!" He shouted in a menacing tone of voice.

Minto looked down, scared to look him in the eye. "No." She whispered.

"So why did you assume that I would?!"

"I didn't assume anything!" Minto screamed.

"Well, if you've got nothing nice to say to me, don't say anything to me!" Ryou shouted, inching closer to her face.

Minto bit her lip, "Shouldn't I be saying that to you?" She asked in a soft tone as she tried to gaze upwards into his alluring blue eyes.

Ryou's gaze softened a little as he watched Minto's eyes flicker up and down. He then alternated his glance from her eyes to her lips as he inched closer to her face, and without thinking, he lightly pressed his lips on hers.

Minto's eyes widened as she felt the gentle pressure on her lips. She tensed a little before Ryou broke his kiss.

"What was that for?" She asked in a shaky voice.

Ryou shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, but I thought you like my kisses."

"_Liked_," She corrected before breaking free of Ryou's grasp. "So don't start acting lovey-dovey with me all of a sudden." She continued to walk in Ichigo's direction. "And don't you have to meet up with Akasaka-san's bait?"

Ichigo leaned against the wall as she saw Minto walk away without seeing her. She let out a sigh as Minto exited the school, glad that she wasn't spotted.

"I'm bait?" Ichigo repeated the usage of the word 'bait' in her head numerous times until it finally sunk in that she was pawn in the vampire's game of chess. "I'm no one's bait." She said to herself before running towards the exit of the school.

* * *

**Well, what do you think? Good? Bad? XD You know what i'm gonna say next...review please! I really love reviews. They brighten up my day :D**

**Well, i don't know when i'll update next because of a few reasons:**

**1) My eyes hurt every time i go on the computer, meaning i'm going to spend some time off of it or limit my time on the computer (Oh, the torture :o)**

**2) I'm a but ill so staying on the laptop while i'm off school isn't the best way to make me feel better.**

**3) I need to update my InuYasha story sometime this year, so when i go on the comp next, i'll be typing up chapter nin of that XD**

**Well, see you soon (I hope XD) and please review (Constructive criticism is welcome :D)**


	8. The Heart Of The Clan

**Sorry for the long update! **

**My laptop's internet isn't working, so i've had to upload the story through the slow and dodgy computer :O**

**Thanks to the reviewers:**

**Sar-T.-Luvs-her-bf-Aden-C.**

**moshimoshi - I'd hate that too :D**

**xSapphirexRosesxFanx - The reason for Ryou and Minto will be unravelled (sp?) in a later chapter, unless you have spotted the hints in earlier chapters or guessed correctly. As for the other two, i have no idea how to aswer them XD But if Ichigo is in danger, i don't know if Ryou will protect her :D**

**Suuz112**

**kitty hinata - By Ryous rival, do you mean Akira? Lol 'cause i think that Ryou has any rivals in this XD Erm,if so, then they might, but he doesn't know about Ichigo...yet XD**

**tokyo girl 05 - Are my chapters really wonderful? -tears of joy fall down face- i feel so priviledged XD I don't think i update quickly anymore (Damn laptop) XD**

**chibivampire13**

**Jocelyn**

**Well, here's chapter eight. Enjoy x**

* * *

**Chapter Eight: The Heart Of The Clan**

Ichigo's insides felt like mush when she ran off the school grounds.

"That's why he was so eager for me to meet his clan," She coughed as she continued to run. "He wanted to use me!" She began to cry.

Rain began to drizzle down on Tokyo as Ichigo sprinted through the gates of the park. The sun was retiring for the night as the warm colours painted the cloud-filled sky. A rainbow formed over the park as the sound of the pattering rain broke the silence.

* * *

Ryou walked in the same direction Minto ran to see Ichigo running through the gates.

"Where's she going?" Ryou asked himself as he quickened his pace.

He eyed her as she began to run down the street and towards the park. The way her body was slightly hunched over, Ryou could tell that she was crying.

"Ryou!"

Ryou turned his head to see Satoshi walk up to the school gates. "Hey, Satoshi."

As Satoshi entered through the school gates and grew closer, an agitated expression was on his face. When he was close enough to Ryou to touch him, he threw a punch at his face.

"What the fuck was that for?!" Ryou asked in a raised voice, taking a few steps back through the impact.

"Why is that girl walking away when she is suppose to meet you?!" Satoshi asked, ignoring Ryou's question. "And why did I see Minto walk away in tears?!"

Ryou pressed his hand on his cheek where Satoshi punched him. "I don't know."

Satoshi growled before balling his fist again, readying himself in case he needed to throw another punch.

"Where does that girl live?" Satoshi asked as he gazed down at the concrete floor.

"Not far from here," Ryou answered. "Why?"

Satoshi looked up at Ryou, an evil glint in his eye. "Because we're gonna go and get her."

* * *

The sky was pitch black as Ichigo plopped down onto a bench near the exit of the park. Her eyes were puffy through crying and she had a lack of energy. She threw her head back so she was looking up into the sky, closing her tear-stained eyes as the pouring rain thrashed carelessly onto her face. She let out a soft sigh as a stray tear trickled down her face, mixing with the rain water.

"I can't believe I was so blind!" She sobbed as she opened her eyes.

She squinted as the rain water landed in her eyes. She lowered her head as she stood up. She lifted her hand to her eyes so she could wipe away the rain water that obstructed her vision. She let out a sigh as she silently walked away, leaving no trace of evidence behind that proved that she in the park.

"I hope," She sobbed. "I hope I never see him again!" She cried as she ran towards the exit of the park.

* * *

Ichigo cried as she was sprawled out on the couch, listening to the music channels on the telly. This had been going on for three hours straight, and nothing had distracted her from doing this.

Her mind was unsettled, causing tiredness to creep up on her. She buried her head in to her folded arms as she cried harder.

She then lifted her head up, asking herself why she was crying. Why was she crying? Was it to relieve her stress? Was she crying out the hatred she felt for Ryou at that moment?

Ichigo's body shook with fright as she got startled by a knock on the door. She stood up, running a hand down her red, tear-stained face. She walked over to the door in a slow pace, trying her hardest to make it look like she wasn't crying. She grabbed a hold of the handle, taking a deep breath as she pulled it down and opened the door.

"Hello?" She couldn't spot anyone who may have knocked on the door. "Is anyone there?" She took a step outside, searching for anyone, or anything, that might have knocked on her door.

She took another step, before she was grabbed from behind.

A hand clasped over her mouth, making anything she said or yelled inaudible to anyone's ears. Her hands were held firmly behind her back as she was forcefully walked out of her garden. She tried her hardest to scream, but every time she tried, the person dug their nails into the side of her face, causing her to scream with pain. Concentrating on what was in front of her, Ichigo found herself being dragged towards a familiar looking, yet unknown car. She was threw into the back of the car like she was a rag doll.

Ichigo grew stiff with fear. She was shaking uncontrollably, her skin was turning pale and her throat was going dry. She was truly scared.

If she focused on listening, she could hear two voices bickering about a plan.

"We wouldn't have to do this if you didn't screw things up earlier!" One voice shouted in a deep voice.

"Well it's not my fault she ran off!" The last, but more familiar voice stated.

"It's not nice to talk about someone like that when they're near." The first voice said calmly, glancing backwards at Ichigo.

She was asleep. Her breaths weren't even, but she looked like she weren't as scared as she was before.

"You should know better, Ryou." The first voice continued as the owner turned back to face the road.

Ryou, the second person, followed the other person's glance to see Ichigo frozen with fright. "So why did we have to kidnap her?" He asked, turning his head towards the driver. "Satoshi?"

Satoshi sighed as he stopped at a traffic light. "Simple," He leaned back, sitting in a more relaxing position as he shifted his gaze towards Ryou. "You're plan failed. Mine is working. Do you know why your plan failed?" He waited for Ryou to answer, but continued when he didn't respond. "Because you cannot concentrate on your goals. Instead you choose to slack off, leaving the others to clean up your mess. Like, for example, this girl," He motioned towards Ichigo, "She wouldn't be involved with us if you had been more careful-"

"Stop lecturing me!" Ryou yelled in a demanding manner. "I've told you already that it wasn't my fault that she caught me!"

"Well who's fault was it then?!" Satoshi asked in a fierce voice as he continued to drive along the street.

Ryou couldn't answer. Instead, he lowered his head, knowing that if he continued the argument, he would lose with bad consequences.

"Heh," A smirk grew on Satoshi's face. "See, you know it's your fault, so be quiet!"

Ryou growled as he sank in his seat. Satoshi was right. It was always his fault. When anything bad happened that threatened the clan, the members knew who to blame straight away. It was always Ryou who screwed up, never anyone else. No one else knew how to screw up, unlike Ryou who didn't know how _not_ to screw up.

"Mmnh..."

Ryou turned his head to see Ichigo sit up.

"...Where am I?" She asked as she rubbed her eyes. She gazed wearily at the front of the car, seeing two blurred figures occupying the seats.

The car came to abrupt halt, causing Ichigo to fly forward and land uncomfortably in between the passenger and driver's seat.

"Ichigo, are you okay?" Ryou asked in a worried tone as he removed Ichigo from in between the seats.

"I guess so," She answered in an unsteady voice. "Where am I?"

"At the heart of our clan." Satoshi answered, unbuckling his seat belt and opening the car door.

Ryou copied Satoshi's action, but with his own belt and door. Satoshi opened the car door for the back.

"Right this way, Ichigo-san." Satoshi said in a polite and calm voice, one that would class him as a gentlemen.

Ichigo gulped as she crawled to the other side of the car, exiting through the right hand side. She nervously took a step away from the car as Satoshi slammed the car door shut. She looked up at a large, Victorian-styled house.

"Is that your house?" She asked the two teenagers who had brought her here without her say so.

"Hai." Satoshi answered, snaking an arm around Ichigo's shoulder.

She almost jumped with shock at his touch; his skin was so smooth and silky for a lad.

"We have lived here for many years, and you're lucky enough to go inside and meet the rest of our clan."

Ryou emitted a cough that sounded a lot like a growl. Satoshi turned his head towards Ryou who began to walk towards the house, shoving past Satoshi like he was inferior.

"What's wrong with Ryou?" Ichigo asked, watching him walk up to the front door.

"Pay no attention to him," Satoshi began to answer as he took a few steps forward, gently dragging Ichigo with him. "He's just acting like an immature baka!"

"Oh." Was all that Ichigo could say.

She just watched as he opened the front door of the Victorian-styled house with such a force, that it slammed against the side of the house, the echo of the impact reaching Ichigo and Satoshi.

"Well, let me escort you to our household." Satoshi said, waiting for Ichigo to take a step forward.

"Thanks, erm..." Ichigo's gaze asked Satoshi for his name, since she couldn't finish her thanks because she was oblivious to the teenager.

"Satoshi," He answered her questioning gaze. "Satoshi Kinomoto."

"Thanks, Satoshi." Ichigo smiled before they walked up to the house.

* * *

"Ryou, are you okay?" Monika asked as she ran down the hallway.

Ryou ignored her as she drew closer to him. He walked up to her, but made no interaction with her whatsoever as he passed her to enter the living room.

Monika sighed as she followed him into the living room. He had been acting moody ever since he had the fight with a member of the Aoi clan. She had found out that he had fought Akira, and lost badly. That fight had changed his personality in many ways, or so she thought.

"Where's Satoshi?" Oujou asked as Monika entered the living room.

It seemed like he was talking to Ryou, who simply ignored him and sat down on an arm chair that was situated in the far corner of the room.

"He's right here."

Everyone in the room turned to the doorway to see Satoshi stood with a red haired girl; Ichigo. All eyes were fixed on Ichigo, except for Ryou's; he was focusing on a spot on the wall.

Ichigo gulped as every pair of eyes in the room, except for Ryou's, fixated on her. This intimidated her to some extent, but she grew scared when a blonde haired woman walked up to her in a slow pace.

"Are you Ichigo-san?" She asked.

Ichigo nodded her head once. "H-hai."

The blonde woman cracked a small smile as she quickened her pace up to Ichigo and wrapped her arms around her. "It's nice to meet you at last. I've heard so much about you, it was only a matter of time that I got to meet you in person."

Ichigo was shocked at the blonde's reaction to meeting her. At first, she thought that they would be angry that she knew about them, but this woman seemed to be really friendly.

Her blonde hair ended at her knees and had a clip decorated with red and black gems clipped the left side of her fringe back, showing one of her crystal blue eyes.

"Oh, where are my manners," She laughed as she pulled away form the hug. "My name is Taori. I'm the 'mother figure' of this lot." She giggled, pointing at the teenagers in the living room.

There were a few people in the room, all looked intimidating and fierce.

A girl with two-toned hair approached Ichigo cautiously. "It's nice to meet you, Ichigo-san. My name is Monika Saoni."

"Nice to meet you." Ichigo shakily replied.

She was scared, but she was trying her hardest not to show it. Monika didn't look half as frightening as the other vampires in the room, but she was still scary in her own way. Her paleness gave her a dead look, one that screams 'I have come back from the dead! Fear me!'. Her lips looked like they were injected with blood, giving the red colour more vibrancy.

Monika sent a glance towards the lad with red hair. He looked the most intimidating so far, even though she couldn't see his eyes.

"So you're the poor girl who's got trapped in our 'world'?" He asked Ichigo, making air quotes at the word 'world'.

Ichigo gulped. "Uh, I guess so." Ichigo answered, unsure of what to say.

"Ichigo, this is Oujou. My boyfriend." Monika stated in a cheery tone. "He can seem to be a bit boisterous at first, but once you get to know him, he's okay."

Ichigo laughed and smile nervously at Oujou and Monika. Oujou – Death. That's what his name meant, so did that mean that death would be granted to her by him? She gulped as Oujou walked towards the couch and sat down next to a blue haired lad. Oujou nudged the lad who seemed to be dazed whilst staring at Ichigo.

"Rei, talk!" Oujou barked.

Rei, the blue haired lad, stood up and walked over to Ichigo. "Konbanwa, Ichigo-san." He grabbed her hand that previously hung at the side of her, and kissed the back of it lightly, causing a faint blush mark to appear across her cheeks. "I am Rei Hanshi, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Ichigo stood still, dumbfounded by his behaviour. He was such a gentleman. His blue hair was quite long for a lad's; it was tied into a low pony that ended midway down her back. He was skinny and dressed in a casual attire; t-shirt and jeans. Ichigo smiled as Rei let go of her hand.

"It's nice to meet you too." Ichigo managed to say over her shocked state.

"Haha! You can't catch me!"

Ichigo turned her body to see a dark haired infant boy run past her and into the living room. He was wearing bright coloured clothes and a woollen hat.

"Get back here, Makoto!" An older version of the young boy shouted, running towards the living room, but stopped at the sight of Ichigo.

The older lad grew more serious as he eyed Ichigo in a conspicuous manner. "So you're the human who knows of us, eh?"

Ichigo gulped as the man glared at her, as if trying to burn two holes into he skin. He too was wearing casual attire. He looked young, but not as young as the others. He looked at least twenty.

"That's a dumb question, Tomou." Taori stated as she stood next to Ichigo in a protective manner. "Of course she is. Now where's Keiichiro?"

"He's upstairs. He wanted to see you." Tomou answered, stepping to the side.

Taori scoffed as she walked past Tomou, a worried but curious expression on her face.

* * *

"So, Minto, do you know what you must do?" Keiichiro asked as he stood up from his desk chair.

"Hai." Minto answered looking down at the floor.

Keiichiro walked around his desk and towards Minto. "Don't worry, that girl will be okay, when you find her."

"But I don't know where she is!" Minto cried. "I've searched high and low all day! I even missed school searching for her!"

Keiichiro lifted his hand, making Minto close her mouth as a sign that she would not talk. "It may take a while to find her, but as long as she doesn't meet up with any other clan, we can take our time while finding her."

Minto sighed. "But what if I can't find her?"

Keiichiro placed a hand on Minto's shoulder. "You will find her." There was a knock at the door. "Enter."

The door opened, and Taori walked in to the room. Both Minto and Keiichiro looked over at her.

"Minto," Keiichiro looked down at Minto once more. "Could you leave the two of us alone for a minute?"

Minto alternated her glance from Taori to Keiichiro several times before leaving the room. She walked past Taori who had stepped to the side to let her pass. She exited the room and closed the door behind her.

"You wanted to see me?" Taori asked, approaching Keiichiro while she talked.

"Hai." He answered, occupying the seat that sat behind his desk in the room.

"Well, what did you want?" She asked, sitting on the edge of the desk.

"Has that girl arrived yet?" Keiichiro asked, picking up a pen that sat on a piece of paper.

"Hai," Taori answered. "Satoshi arrived with her just now."

"Excellent," Keiichiro smiled. "Send her up. I want a word with her."

* * *

**How is the chapter? Good? Bad? Review please! I love hearing your opinions!**

**Hopefully, i'll update sooner, otherwise i'm sorry, it may be next month :O**

**Well, ta-tah for now :D**


	9. Icy Shock

**I'm back! Lol, sorry for the long update, i've been busy XD**

**Thanks to the reviewers!:**

**Sar-T.**

**xSapphirexRosesxFanx - I wouldn't say that he's mean, it was just his time of the month i think XD**

**moshimoshi - I'm sorry that the chapters are short, and this one is even shorter than the last one, but i'll try to make them longer in the future :D**

**chibivampire13 and outcast13- Your reviews were almost identical XD - a little love triangle will form in the near future and there's a little section with just Ichigo and Ryou :D**

**Jocelyn - The reason that there wasn't a lot of RyouXIchigo in that chapter was because i wanted to introduce the clan members so i wouldn't have to struggle with that later. There's an ickle bit of RyouXIchigo in here, but a major part will arrive soon :D**

**Enjoy x**

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Icy Shock**

"Enter!" Beckoned Keiichiro's voice as he lifted his head from the piece of paper he was writing on.

As he continued to concentrate on the piece of paper, the door to the room creaked open in a conspicuous manner as Ichigo walked in to the room nervously.

"Y-you wanted to s-see me?" Ichigo stuttered, closing the door behind her.

Keiichiro lifted his head once more before answering, "Ah, yes, come further," as he sat back in his chair, eyes scanning her shy, nervous and scared composure.

Ichigo let out a gulp as she walked further into the room, trying not to look Keiichiro in the eye. She was unsure on how to act towards the superior being; she might do something which could endanger her life at a high cost.

"So," Keiichiro began, catching Ichigo off guard, causing her to jump with fright. "You're the girl who has discovered our secret,"

"H-hai." Ichigo answered, her high-pitched voice squeaking afterwards.

Keiichiro smirked a little as he stood up from his chair, eyeing Ichigo as he circled around the desk in front of the chair. "Tell me," He looked down at Ichigo, the smirk still playing with his lips. "How good are you at keeping a secret?"

"Very good!" Ichigo answered quickly. "I can keep a secret! I'm like a bank for secrets! They're deposited, but never withdrawn!"

Keiichiro couldn't help but laugh at Ichigo's answer. A simple 'yes or no' answer would have been good enough for him.

"I imagine that you have an idea on the consequences if you so happen to hint our secret to anyone,"

"I won't tell anyone!" Ichigo promised, making hand gestures to emphasize her words. "I won't even think about it if it means that I'm hinting!"

Keiichiro's smirk reduced itself to a smile. "Good. Now that we have an understanding, you may be excused."

Ichigo blinked. Was that it? Was that all he wanted to see her for? Hesitantly, she turned around and reached for the door handle, but before she could grab it, it opened from the other side, causing the door to slam in her face.

"Gyaa!" Ichigo screeched as her hands flew to her nose.

"Oh, Ichigo-san, sumimasen!" Taori apologized as she rushed over to Ichigo.

Ichigo's eyes began to water as a sharp pain emitted from her nose. "Ouch," She softly said, blinking to prevent herself from crying.

Through her tear-filled eyes, she could see Taori and a blonde lad stood in front of her. Taori was closer, and seemed to be more concerned about Ichigo.

"Is your nose okay, honey?" Taori asked, wrapping an arm around Ichigo in a comforting manner.

"I think so," Ichigo answered, removing her hand from covering her nose.

Taori concentrated her gaze on Ichigo's nose before shaking her head. "You need ice on that, honey," She turned her head to face the blonde lad. "Ryou, take Ichigo downstairs and put some ice in a towel." She ordered, removing her arm from around Ichigo.

Ichigo's glazed eyes fixated on the blonde, who she now knew as Ryou. She watched as he outstretched his hand as he took a large step closer to her, grabbing her wrist. With one swift movement, he dragged Ichigo out of Keiichiro's room and along the hallway until they came to the stairs. Ryou's grip was tight, but Ichigo didn't wince or try to break free from his grasp. Instead, she let Ryou drag her down the stairs and into the kitchen which was parallel to the front door.

"Take a seat," Ryou ordered, patting the surface of the counter beside the sink.

Ichigo followed Ryou's order by walking over to the counter and jumping onto it. Her hand flew back up to her nose as the pain suddenly grew intense. Her gaze drifted over to Ryou who was laying a towel flat on the other side of the sink. She felt awkward since none of them talked, creating a deafening silence.

Ichigo suddenly remembered how moody Ryou had acted earlier, and wondered if he was still in a bad mood with her. Ichigo wanted to talk to him, but hesitated when she grew scared of what his response would be like. She didn't want him to shout at her, and she wasn't keen on him being ignorant with her, so after reconsidering, she decided to keep quiet.

"You're acting strange," Ryou stated, making Ichigo jump. "What's wrong?"

Ichigo blinked. "N-nothing's wrong," She smiled convincingly. "Why do you ask?"

"Because you're not acting like your bubbly self," Ryou answered, making his way towards the freezer. "And it's kinda creeping me out."

Ichigo watched as Ryou slid the ice cube tray out of the freezer and carried it over to the towel covered counter. He then began to remove some ice cubes from the tray and placed them on the towel before returning the tray.

"Why does it...creep you out?" Ichigo hesitantly asked, unable to take her eyes off of Ryou.

Ryou shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno, it just does," He grabbed the corners of the towel and joined them all up in his hand, trapping the ice cubes. "And I like hearing your voice."

Ichigo's eyes widened. "Y-you...do?"

Ichigo was too dazed to realise that Ryou was stood in front of her, lightly pressing the towel onto her nose. "Hai."

Ichigo looked at Ryou, making sure she didn't make eye contact with him. She suddenly felt her temperature rise as her cheeks flushed. She enjoyed the cold towel pressing against her nose, but she wouldn't have enjoyed it a lot if Ryou wasn't the one doing it. She couldn't stop quoting what he said to her in her mind. It's not everyday you hear a lad say 'I like hearing your voice,' to you, is it?

Ryou refrained himself from laughing at Ichigo's red cheeks. They were turning redder every second, it was like they were taunting him. He repeatedly alternated his glance from the towel to her face, almost blushing himself a little. She looked really cute as she sat on the counter being patted with a towel. Ryou began to look at Ichigo like she was the most interesting thing in his life. He fixated his gaze at Ichigo, eyes soft as he began to lose himself in her eyes. He was drew to her eyes, they were like bait, and he was the fish falling for the bait before he was hooked.

"How's your nose now?" Ryou asked in a soft and quiet voice as he placed the towel in the sink, releasing the ice cubes from inside the towel.

Ichigo lightly pressed her nose before sighing with relief, "It's better now, arigatou!"

Ryou couldn't help but smile. She was back to her loud, bubbly self who he loved in a way. At that moment, she was grinning, eyes closed and sparkling teeth on show. She must have been happy or in a good mood at least.

"Come on Ichigo, let's get you home." Ryou said, taking Ichigo's hand and sliding her off the counter.

He didn't let go of her hand as the pair exited the kitchen, and Ichigo didn't try to release her hand from his grip. His hand felt soft and irresistibly smooth, it was hypnotizing her, making sure that she didn't let go or she would miss out on losing herself in the sensual texture of his skin.

"Ryou, have you got a minute?" Minto asked.

"Minto?" Ichigo gasped. "What're you doing here?"

Minto's eyes widened as she looked at Ichigo. "I live here." She answered in a whisper.

"But I thought that you-"

"Ichigo, I'll be right back." Ryou assured before releasing his grip on Ichigo and walking up to Minto.

"Ichigo," Taori began as she descended the stairs. "Can I have a little chat with you for a minute, please?"

"Sure." Ichigo smiled.

Taori walked past her, leading her into a small room with a piano inside it. Taori sat down on the stool that stood beside the piano, her face soft, but serious.

"Are you friends with a young girl called Retasu?" She asked Ichigo, who nodded in an absent-minded way for her answer. "Well, we're lead to believe that-"

"We?" Ichigo interrupted.

"Keiichiro and me, are lead to believe that Retasu survived her bite off Ryou, am I correct in saying this?"

"Y-you are." Ichigo answered in a shaky voice.

Taori's voice was angelic, but scary while she talked about serious matters. "Well, you should know that if a human survives when bit by a vampire, that they will become a vampire and belong to us. This Retasu girl has apparently fled from the hospital and we need to find her before another clan finds her, realises that we're here and track us down."

"So, you want me to find her?"

"Not just you. All will help, but we will split you all into three groups so the search will be more quicker." Taori explained, brushing the right side of her fringe with her fingers. "Would your parents mind if you missed a day of school?"

"My parents are away for a week," Ichigo answered.

"Good, then you can stay here for the night so you won't have to make your way here early in the morning - You don't mind staying here do you?"

"N-no, not at all." Ichigo smiled.

"Good, then you can sleep in Minto's room for the night. I hear that you're good friends with her. You can go up now if you like. Her room's the first on the right hand side."

"Arigatou, Taori-sama." Ichigo bowed a little before exiting the room.

As she walked along the hallway, she heard a soothing, but depressing melody come from the room she had just been in. Ichigo smiled as she ascended the stairs, listening out for the music that emitted from the piano.

* * *

"So we have to get up early to look for her?" Ryou asked in disbelief as he gave Minto a sceptical look.

"Hai, and Taori wants Ichigo to sleep here for tonight." Minto said with distaste.

"And what's wrong with that?" Ryou asked, questioning her bitter tone.

"I'm not fond of her anymore," Minto admitted. "Especially because you spend most of your time with her."

"Minto, I've only known her for four days. Why are you jealous because I'm making sure that she keeps our secret?"

"I'm not jealous." Minto denied, folding her arms and looking away.

Ryou smirked as he took a step closer to Minto. "You are so jealous."

Minto looked back at Ryou, unfolding her arms as she mentally measured how close to her he was. He was fairly close, but not close enough to feel each other's body heat. She began to remember the good old days, and how them days were ruined by a certain red-haired female who had made too many plans which split them up.

"Do you love her?" Minto asked.

"Love who?"

"Ichigo," Minto answered before asking again, "Do you love her?"

Ryou shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno."

"Why do you hang around with her? She is insignificant and a pain in the arse. To be honest, she'll annoy me tomorrow."

"You two-faced bitch." Ryou snarled. "How can you say that about your best friend?!"

"She's not my best friend!" Minto exclaimed. "Not anymore anyway."

* * *

Ichigo's eyes widened at the last sentence Minto had shouted. She had been listening in on the last part as she heard it whilst ascending the stairs. Tears formed in her eyes as she found out that her best friend actually hated her. Ichigo silently turned back to descend the stairs before sneaking out of the house.

* * *

"Has anyone seen Ichigo?" Ryou asked as he entered the living room.

"No, sorry." Monika answered as she snuggled up against Oujou.

"Me neither." Oujou answered, rubbing Monika's arm softly.

"Why're you looking for her?" Satoshi asked.

"Because I can't find her anywhere," Ryou answered. "I last saw her before she went off to talk to Taori-san,"

"Have you asked Taori-san where she is?" Satoshi asked.

Ryou nodded. "Hai, but she said that she sent her up to Minto's room, and I've been in there and she didn't come in,"

"Have you searched the whole house?" Oujou asked.

"Hai, she's nowhere to be seen," Ryou answered.

Satoshi growled as he grabbed a pair of keys off of the table beside the chair he was sitting on. "Come on," He said whilst standing up. "We'll go and have a look for her outside in case she's done a runner."

* * *

Ichigo sobbed as she ran through the park, tears falling down her blotchy face.

"How come nothing turns out right for me?!" She screamed to no one in particular as she fell on her knees.

"And turns out right for us."

Ichigo frantically turned her head in all directions when she heard footsteps draw closer, but no hazy figures emerging from the darkness. She grew scared in case she was to be attacked by paedophiles who's physical ability was better than hers by far. She paused her heavy breathing for a moment to hear her surroundings clearer. She tightly closed her eyes before feeling a hand on her shoulder.

* * *

**Hehe, a little cliffhanger to rattle your brains (If you have any...XD)**

**Lol, please review! (Constructive critism is wanted!!!)**


	10. The Blood Seal

**Yay! Finally, an update!!!!!**

**It's been over two months since i updated this fic! Its gurd to be back :D**

**50 reviews, thats the most ive ever received o.o YAY!!!!**

**Thanks to reviewers!:**

**tokyo girl 05 - I like suspense to, so...suspensy XD**

**xSapphirexRosesxFanx - he does help her, in his own little way :D**

**savannah - yes he is a vampire and thanks for thinking it was awesome :D**

**Jocelyn - i updated :D and thanks for reviewing a lot :D**

**kittykat132 - yepp, he is :D**

**Botan Strife - Here's the next chapter for you :D**

**Enjoy x**

* * *

**Chapter Ten: The Blood Seal**

Ichigo's body tensed up as the hand moved from her shoulder up to her neck, grasping it tightly. The dark, nocturnal atmosphere made it difficult for Ichigo to see past her nose, causing disadvantages when trying to identify who was behind or in front or at the side of her.

"Don't hurt her, Akira," An unacquainted voice ordered sternly, but softly.

A confused and scared expression grew evident on her face as she gulped, unable to control the shaking motion her body made. She exhaled a cold breath, watching the carbon dioxide mix with the atmosphere with her wide eyes.

"I won't," a second voice replied.

Ichigo guessed, by the reply, that the last one who spoke was Akira, but this didn't calm her nerves. Not one bit. She sensed someone crouch down in front of her, finding herself looking into alluring golden eyes that almost hypnotised her into a jelly-like state.

"Konbanwa, Ichigo-chan," The first voice greeted in a some-what cheery voice.

Ichigo wanted to shudder at his voice, but amazingly refrained to do so. Gulping, she debated in her mind whether or not to reply to the greeting she received from the intimidating stranger.

"Uh..." Her voice was shaky, making it difficult for her to speak her words clearly.

A soft chuckle emitted from the stranger in front of her, "Don't worry," They began, voice scarily soothing. "We won't hurt you. We have no intention to. Besides," - He placed a hand on Ichigo's cheek - "We haven't any orders for homicide."

"Don't scare her," The one Ichigo guessed was Akira ordered, removing his hand from around her neck and making the other move his hand away from her cheek. He crouched down beside his partner before speaking softly, "My name is Akira, and this is Kisshu. And you're Ichigo, hai?"

Ichigo could only nod her head at the vast difference in Akira's tone of voice. Before, his voice was hard and almost like a growl, but now, it was soft and elegant, almost out of this world, unless, it _was_ out of this world.

"It's nice to meet you Ichigo," Akira continued. "So, what are you doing out here in the freezing weather, crying like you've just been dumped?"

Ichigo was speechless; not because Akira was right (Because he wasn't, but fairly close), because he reminded her of someone, someone close. In a way, he reminded her of Ryou, only Akira was more well-mannered than he was. And there would be only one huge difference between them.

A small scale of laughter erupted from the back of Akira's throat, "Are you a mute?" He asked, both serious and jocular tones evident in his deep, smooth voice. Ichigo quickly shook her head, her speech still temporarily disabled. "Well, why are you not speaking? Are you scared?"

Ichigo only blinked, but it was the best answer she could give. She was scared, yes, but she had no courage to say this to two strangers whom acted oddly nice to her. Suddenly, her vision grew blurry. As she lost her vision, her eyelids felt heavy, forcing her eyes to slip shut. A faint feeling built up inside her as her body grew limp and heavy. Her body swayed side to side, showing her unsteady balance before she collapsed onto the path.

* * *

"Where could she be?" Ryou growled as he peered through the passenger side window.

"You should know, baka," Satoshi snarled, sharply turning the street corner. "You hang with her enough to know where she loves going."

"That doesn't mean I know where she is!"

Satoshi shook his head before examining the street. For two hours he roamed the street in his Civic searching for the absconded Ichigo. He was slightly fed up with trailing down the same street numerous times, but he wasn't complaining as much as he would be. This was Ichigo whom they were after, not anybody else. She was important, vital, cost-effective. If she wasn't in their clutches, she could be very dangerous and threatening to the clan.

"There she is!" Ryou exclaimed, pointing at the park.

One advantage of being a vampire is that your eyes can see for miles, even in the pitch black darkness. They work almost better than a high-tech telescope. Satoshi concentrated on the park, scanning the landscape thoroughly. Soon enough, he saw three figures run closer to the exit nearest to them. One was definitely Ichigo, but who were the other two?

* * *

Akira silently chuckled as he softly stroked Ichigo's deep red hair, "So, what do we do now?"

Kisshu knelt down beside Akira, a smirk playing with his lips as he answered, "I say we take advantage of this moment, while she's out of it-"

Akira's hand flew across Kisshu's face, leaving a red mark in it's place, "Never think of that again! It's wrong to think of a lady in such a manner," Akira paused his speech for a moment as he stared down at Ichigo's peaceful face, slowly moving his hand to her cheek to calmly stroke it, "Especially a lady as beautiful as this one."

Akira continued to stroke Ichigo's cheek as he absent-mindedly stared at her face. She had a calm expression on her face which almost hypnotised him. Her soft breathing echoed in his mind minutes after that breath was exhaled. Her hair fascinated him as the passing breeze picked up strands and playfully shifted them so they would cover her eyes. He looked bewildered as he soothingly brushed the hair away from her eyes; was he falling for a human girl?

"We have company."

Akira jerked his head in the direction Kisshu was staring in; two figures emerged from the darkness in an eerie manner.

Both Kisshu and Akira stood up, parallel to the two figures. All four stood firm, staring each other down, waiting for the other to make the first move.

"Akira."

"Ryou."

"Kisshu."

"Satoshi."

Within one second, Akira was hovering over Ichigo, protecting her from Ryou whom tried to retrieve her.

"Move Akira!"

"Iie."

"Akira, Ichigo is ours! Move away from her!"

Akira shook his head as he tutted, "Shame on you, Ryou-baka,"

"Shame on me for what?" Ryou asked in a puzzled tone.

"Ichigo is not a prize to be owned. She is a human being, unlike you and me, and should be respected as one of us, not below, or above-"

"Cut the shit Akira, you don't care about her either! You just want to have her 'cause we're taking her in. Being nice to her. Caring for her. Making sure that scum like you don't get their fangs into her!"

A low laugh came from Akira, "Do you really think that you're being nice to her? You're just making sure she doesn't spill your secret! You're just using her for your own benefit! Shame on-"

Akira stumbled backwards, a red hand printing on his face.

"How dare you say that we think so low of her!" Ryou yelled, a vein appearing on his forehead. "We care for her! We think about her! Why do you think we came looking for her?!"

"Because you didn't want her spilling your secret, perhaps?" Akira answered coolly.

Ryou growled, "Alright, that's it!" He balled his fists and threw one at Akira's face.

Akira swiftly dodged it before appearing behind Ryou, grabbing a hold of his neck tightly, "You need to be quicker than that if you're gonna punch me." He mocked before viciously slamming Ryou's head on the floor, grazing his cheek.

Though struggling, Ryou somehow kicked Akira off of him and stood up, regaining his composure before assuming a fighting position.

* * *

"So, Satoshi, long time, no-"

Before Kisshu could finish what he was saying, Satoshi punched him in the face, knocking him out, and ran over to Ichigo while Akira and Ryou were settling the matter in a fight.

He knelt down beside her, placing a hand on her arm, shaking her so she would wake.

"Ichigo," He called.

She stirred a little.

He repeated her name a bit louder.

She slowly opened her eyes.

"Where am I?" She shot up, sitting straight, turning her head in several directions, but stopped at the site of Ryou fighting. "Oh my God! Why're they-"

A hand clasped over her mouth, preventing her speech to be audible.

"Shush!" Satoshi shushed in her ear. "Now come on, we need to get back to the house before one of them realises that you're awake!"

"But what about Ryou?!" Ichigo asked. "Will he be okay?!"

"Of course he will! Now come on!"

* * *

"Ichigo? Are you okay?" Taori rushed towards Ichigo and greeted her with a bone-crushing hug.

"Hai." Ichigo answered, breathless through the hug.

"Where did you go? You were suppose to be settling into Minto's room, how come you left?" Taori asked, breaking free from the hug.

"I guess Minto doesn't want me to be here." Ichigo sighed, eyes cast towards the floor.

Taori and Satoshi looked at each other before Taori asked, "Whadd'ya mean? What has Minto said?"

"Apparently, I'm insignificant and a pain in the arse." Ichigo mumbled.

"She said that to you?" Taori asked in a shocked tone.

"Not to _me, _but to Ryou. I overheard as I was about to walk into the room."

Satoshi growled a little, "Wait until I get my hands on her-"

"Satoshi no!" Taori grabbed on to his shirt before he could take a step up the stairs. "Don't make matters worse. We'll just talk to her in the morning, but that still won't change her mind about you. I guess you can't stay in Minto's room. Monika's sharing with Oujou and you can't stay with me...i can only think of the box room, but that is too small for you-"

"She can stay with me," Satoshi offered. "I've got two sections to my room and two en suites since Monika moved in with Oujou. If she wants to, she can sleep there."

Taori turned to Ichigo, "Is that okay with you, Ichigo-chan?"

"Hai," Ichigo nodded. "But are you sure, Satoshi?"

"I wouldn't have offered if I weren't sure." Satoshi smiled before walking up the stairs.

"Go on up, Ichigo-chan." Taori smiled, stepping to the side.

* * *

"Had enough?"

"Iie, and you?"

"Not by a long shot!"

Both threw countless punches at the other, staining knuckles with dry blood from busted noses and lips. Both launched kicks at the other, attacking them in any possible way which afflicted vital damage.

Both were panting with exhaustion, almost dropping to the floor. Ryou was no longer standing straight, and Akira was limping badly.

They were now standing still, staring each other down, panting heavily, eyes drooping, sweat dripping from their stone cold bodies.

One fell down. The other walked away.

* * *

"Wow!"

Ichigo stared in awe at the large room. One half of the room was painted in deep reds and multi-shades of black. The bed was mahogany with silk black sheets and wall hangings were on either side of it. The other side was brighter, with white walls covered with paintings of the family. This caught Ichigo's attention. She wouldn't tear her eyes away from that specific wall.

"You like?" Satoshi asked, smiling at Ichigo.

"I love it!" Ichigo beamed. "Did you draw it?"

"Iie," Satoshi shook his head. "Monika drew it for me." He walked closer towards Taori's red dress on the painting. "See this?"

Ichigo walked closer to see what Satoshi was looking at. Where the dress was the lightest shade, there was a smudge of blood red.

"This was from when Akira broke into our house."

"When did he do that?" Ichigo gasped.

"A few years ago." Satoshi answered. "When he did, I found him in the main room threatening Monika, so I punched him. He ran past me and up the stairs into my room and we fought in there for a while until I almost murdered him. But Keiichiro stopped me before I could and took Akira to hospital-"

"But isn't Akira your enemy?"

"He is...but because both of our clans are branched from the main clan, we have to sign something which is called a Blood Seal."

"What's one of them?"

"It's like a contract, but we have to seal it with blood."

"I guess that's where the name came from then?" Ichigo laughed.

"Most likely."

"So what do they do?"

"They're used so we don't commit mutiny, which is basically what Ryou and Akira try and do all the time. If we kill anyone from their clan and vice versa, we call it mutiny, since we've originated from the main clan. If we break the blood seal, we are left to starve in an isolated area on the other side of the planet for a year."

"That must be dangerous!" Ichigo gasped.

"It is," Satoshi agreed, "But one is known to have survived. He belongs in the main clan. Aged horribly because of it. That's one way we can age. When we don't feed for over six months, as well as draining our health, it seems like we look aged, but we don't die unless we stop feeding for at least a year. Of course there are other ways in which we die, but this is one too."

"KYAAAAAAAA!!!!!"

* * *

**Cliffy!!!!**

**Please tell me what you thought!! Review!!!!**

**TTFN x**


	11. It's Not A Game, Ichigo!

**Heyy! Oh dear, it's been years since i updated this. I have my reasons.**

**Well firstly, i've been busy with my new story 'Kisshu's Little Book Of Chat-Up Lines' so i've been neglecting this. Secondly, i've been busy with school work. I've got exams when i get back and i am so not prepared for this. Thirdly i've been sorting out relationships between friends so i haven't been in the mood to update.**

**Thanks to reviewers:**

**NikkiNya6 - Yeah, he was the one who fell. Good guess :D And she has her reasons for it being her fault XD**

**xSapphirexRosesxFanx - This chapter tells you why she screams and you may feel a bit sorry for her in this chapter too :D**

**tokyo girl 05 - i am curious to know...how dies it remind you of Romeo and Juliet? XD**

**Leanah Song - Thank you :D**

**Jocelyn - There is some action in this one...i think :p**

**Botan Strife - Here is more :D**

**Innocent Sinress - Thanks for reading :D**

**chibi-hinata - Thank you**

**outcast13 - Thank you :D**

**Well enjoy x**

**Happy Easter!**

* * *

**Chapter Eleven: It's Not A Game, Ichigo!**

Smash!

Thud!

Bang!

"KYAAAA!"

* * *

"Where am I?"

Laughter erupted.

"Who's there?"

The laughter continued, volume rising.

"Please! Who's there?!"

The laughter faded, leaving a deafening silence in it's place.

Scared and highly cautious eyes scanned the pitch black surrounding.

A heart viciously pounded.

Cold sweat fell from a pale, ghost-like forehead.

"Hello there, Ichigo-chan," A familiar, but unrecognisable voice greeted, his elegant voice echoing through her confused mind.

"W-ho's there? H-how do you know my name?"

"Why, because we've met, of course. Don't tell me that you have forgotten who I am already? After one acquaintance? Shame, I did like you as well-"

"Just tell me who you are!" Ichigo screamed, tears streaming down her colourless face.

Closed-mouthed laughter erupted, "Why spoil the surprise, Ichigo-chan?"

"S-surprise?" She repeated, "What surprise?"

There was no reply; just footsteps drawing closer to Ichigo's shaking frame.

"Answer me!" Ichigo shouted, fear evident in her voice, "Please," Her voice was now almost a whisper as she fell onto her knees, feeling worn-out and frustrated.

Her eyes widened as cold flesh came in contact with her own warm skin, lifting her chin up. She now found herself staring into alluring golden eyes, familiar golden eyes.

"Y-you-you're...," She gulped, "...You're Akira!"

"Is that a disappointment to you?" He asked, "Or a relief?"

She replied with silence.

"Come now, Ichigo-chan, I will not hurt you. I have no intention to. I merely came to see if you were still alive."

"A-a-alive?!" She stuttered. What did he mean by that?

"Well, you were attacked, by none other than Ryou, and I, being considerate and loyal to those I meet, decided to step into your mind and see if you were still with us, and it looks like you are, but not on the outside."

""But-...you and-...Ryou, he-...I'm unconscious?" Ichigo babbled, confused and oblivious.

"Hai," Akira answered, "But not for long. You're at the hospital now. You had the privilege of Akasaka and Taori taking you there."

"But...why...Ryou attacked me?"

"Hai," Akira sympathetically nodded, "I was amazed myself."

"Amazed? At what?"

"Well, I didn't think that Ryou had any strength left, after I defeated him in the park. I went to Akasaka's house to send my apologies for frightening you, and all of a sudden Ryou charges into the house, storms up the stairs and into Satoshi's room, and hits you."

Tears welled up in Ichigo's eyes. Ryou deliberately hit her. Why? What reason could he have for doing such a thing?

Akira stared deep into Ichigo's mind, watching her thoughts fly by. She was deeply upset at what he had told her, making her think why he hit her? He was slightly relieved that Ichigo was on the verge of despising Ryou, but he felt guilty for telling her what she probably didn't want to hear.

"Sumimasen," He whispered, before fading out of her mind, leaving her to rest.

* * *

"Mmmnh,"

"Ichigo?"

"Ichigo-chan, can you hear us?"

Ichigo's eyes fluttered open to see Taori, Monika, Keiichiro and Satoshi huddled around her, all with worried faces.

"Oh, thank Jesus," Taori sighed, hand on heart, "Are you alright, darling?"

"H-hai," Ichigo managed to speak, "What happened?"

The four vampires looked cautiously at each other, secretly nodding and gesturing to Ichigo.

Monika then cleared her throat, "Ichigo, do you remember anything that happened before you fell unconscious?"

Ichigo shook her head.

All eyes were on Monika, "Well...Ryou..."

At the mention of Ryou's name, Ichigo began to remember the dream she had during her unconsciousness.

"...we don't know ourselves why he did it, but he did. We're sorry, Ichigo-chan."

* * *

"I can't believe I did that to her," Ryou growled, eyes gazing towards the blood stains on the floor.

"_What is he doing here?!" Ryou shouted, pointing at Akira._

"_Now, now, Ryou, no need to be so-"_

"_Shut it, Akira!" Ryou ordered._

"_Ryou, Akira's come to apologise for scaring Ichigo," Taori stated, "But I still can't believe it." She looked at Akira oddly, wondering why he didn't just find an opportunity to apologise when she was outside._

_Ryou viciously growled before storming up the stairs and charging into Satoshi's room._

"_KYAAAAAAAA!!!!!" Ichigo screamed, jumping out of her skin._

"_Ryou, what're you-"_

_Before Satoshi could continue his question, Ryou threw a punch at Ichigo, sending her to the floor._

"_Why do you have to be so fucking difficult, Ichigo?!" Ryou screamed, slamming her head off the floor._

"_Ryou, get off her!" Satoshi commanded, attempting to get Ryou off of Ichigo without hurting her._

"_Why do you have to be so approachable to those who are a fucking threat?! Why do you act like this is a game?! 'Cause it's not!" Ryou was now on the verge of tears as he slammed his shin into her stomach, "It's not a game, Ichigo! This life, you are now bound to, is real, so don't treat it like a fucking joke and be acquainted with the enemy!"_

"_Ryou!" Satoshi grabbed both of Ryou's arms and locked them with his own, dragging him off an unconscious, bleeding Ichigo. "Do you hear yourself?! Do you really think that she treats our secret as a game?! She isn't stupid, you know. She cares for us, she cares for you, not Akira, nor Kisshu." Satoshi tightened his lock on Ryou as he struggled to break free._

"_Ichigo, are you okay?" Taori gasped as she and Keiichiro ran over to Ichigo._

"_Oh my goodness," Monika almost screamed, what happened to Ichigo?" Monika sniffed the air, "Is that her blood?"_

"_Monika, leave!" Taori barked as she knelt down and checked Ichigo's pulse, "Keiichiro, make sure no one else enters this room. The blood'll drive 'em crazy."_

"_Okay, Taori," Keiichiro nodded as he walked over to Satoshi and Ryou, "Bring him out here, Satoshi."_

"_Hai," Satoshi said before dragging Ryou out of the room._

"_Punish 'im later, Keiichiro," Taori shouted, "We've gotta take Ichigo to the hospital."_

Ryou slowly walked over to the stain of Ichigo's blood, the smell driving him insane. He repeatedly asked himself why he took his anger out on her. Why not Akira? Or Satoshi?

"Ryou?"

Ryou turned his head round to see Minto at the doorway, a concerned look on her face, "Hey, Minto."

"Are you still beating yourself up about Ichigo?" Minto asked, a hint of anger in her tone.

"Well I am the cause of her hospitalisation." Ryou angrily and guiltily stated.

"Well get over it. You were right on what you said to her and-"

"No I weren't," Ryou whispered, "I was wrong. I always am wrong."

"No, you're not always wrong, Ryou," Minto stated, moving closer to Ryou, "And I can't see why you're getting all worked up about Ichigo! She's worthless, insignificant, unimpo-"

Within a second, Minto was pinned against the wall, fear in her eyes as she stared at Ryou's threatening demeanour as he gained a tight grip around her neck.

"Do. Not. Call. Ichigo. Worthless. Insignificant. Or unimportant. You're describing the wrong person." Ryou released his grip on Minto and sprinted out of the room and out of the house.

* * *

Ichigo stared out of the window, watching the birds fly freely around the open sky. Taori mentioned that she would have to stay in hospital for a few weeks because of broken ribs, bruising and head trauma. Why couldn't she be free from the hospital? Why couldn't she be free from her life? Why didn't she die there and then?

"Konbanwa, `Ichigo-chan," Monika's warming voice greeted as she entered the room. "It's a good job Taori and Akasaka-san are so well-known here, otherwise you'll probably be in one of those rotten cubicles near the old people who have colds. I've brought some flowers for you," Monika placed them on the bedside table on the left hand side of Ichigo. Glancing at the window, she saw Ichigo's reflection. Sadness conveyed in her eyes, colour was drained from her face. "Ichigo-chan, what's wrong?"

She didn't answer.

"Aww, come on Ichigo, smile," Monika pleaded, brushing her red bangs out of her face and tucking a strand of purple hair behind her ear, "At least you're alive!"

That's just it, isn't it?" Ichigo mumbled.

"Gomennasai?"

"I'll see him again, and he may hit me again. I can't live in fear, waiting for the day I see him again. He may try to kill me next time," Tears fell from her eyes as she continued, "I don't want this anymore, Monika. I don't want to be involved with him if he wants to take his anger out on me when something goes wrong."

"Oh, Ichigo-chan," Taori sat down next to Ichigo and wrapped her arm around her, pulling her closer as Ichigo cried. "Don't get worked up over him. He's not worth it."

"But I can't help it," Ichigo wailed, "I never thought that he would grow violent on me. Only if I didn't keep your identities secret, which I have. So why did he attack me?"

* * *

"Ryou?!" Taori screamed, causing everyone around her to cover their ears. "Ryou, get down here now!"

"He's not here, Taori-san," Minto stated, rubbing her neck.

"Well where is he?" She asked, attempting not to scream.

"I dunno, he just ran off." Minto answered before walking up the stairs.

"Well why didn't you stop him from running off?!" Taori couldn't help but shout now.

"I didn't know I was suppose to!" Minto screamed back, "I'm not his flaming keeper!"

"Well you damn should be!" Taori retorted.

"Calm down, Taori," Keiichiro soothed, placing his hands on Taori's shoulders and rubbing them gently. "He'll return here soon. He always does."

Taori sighed, "Yeah, you're right. How's the search going anyway?"

"Tomou said it's unproductive." Keiichiro answered her question.

Taori growled before entering the small room near the stairs and began to play a furious tune on the piano.

* * *

"Sayonara, Ichigo-chan," Monika said before leaving.

She walked along the corridor, hoping that Ichigo was going to be okay. She wondered deeply why Ichigo got worked up over someone as worthless as Ryou?

She walked down the stairs, thinking about what she saw a few days ago. Ichigo's mangled state, Ryou's angered frame, Taori's scared face. What possessed Ryou to do such a thing?

* * *

Ichigo stared at the ceiling near the door as she thought about the dream she had involving Akira. It puzzled her that it was almost real, like she was actually talking to him. All the feelings felt were real, all the voices were real, his cold flesh against hers was real. Surely she made none of it up.

"How're you doing, Ichigo?"

* * *

**Another Cliffy!**

**Lols, please review!**

**Bye x**


	12. Do You Believe In Vampires?

Ichigo's heart began to race furiously as she watched Ryou walk closer to her. His gaze was fixated on her, the intimidation caused her to look down in both shame and fright.

"Well," He began, "Are you gonna tell me how you're doing?"

Ichigo gulped, bravely asking, "Do you really care?" She kept her eyes down, hoping that not being able to see him would calm her nerves.

She heard an agitated, but calm sigh escape Ryou's lips, "I do, actually. I feel quite guilty for what I did to you-"

"Quite?" Ichigo repeated, disgusted and skeptical as she looked up at him.

"Hai, quite, I know what I did was wrong, and I do regret it, but,"

Ichigo's eyes narrowed as tears formed in them, "But what?"

"You don't make life easy, Ichigo," He stated, "You do take things as too much of a joke. I mean, you're dealing with vampires, for heaven's sake, not fairies," He seated himself on the edge of Ichigo's hospital bed, keeping his gaze on Ichigo, "But, I did go over the top when I tried to knock some sense into you, I am sorry for that. I just don't want you to be an open target for other clans; they'll try and take advantage of you, and we don't want them to succeed. This is why you need to be more cautious when you aren't with us. Make sure Akira doesn't get as close to you." Ryou took a moment to study Ichigo. She was in a state of concentration, like she was hanging on his every word. Her eyes were red and weary, but were showing flickers of endless energy. Her now pale face was alert and teaming with light. She was nodding her head slightly at the things Ryou said, her less vibrant red hair following the movement involuntarily. Even though she looked dead, Ryou couldn't help but think that she was beautiful. But he forbid himself to continue thinking this, so he continued speaking, "So, do you understand what I'm saying?" He asked her.

Ichigo just nodded her head again, eyes now drooping. She must have used up a lot of energy to listen to what he said to her, though he didn't deserve her attention. He had beaten her up to a bloody pulp, and she was still respecting him.

Clearing his throat of the guilt that began to drown him, he asked her, "So, how long do you have to stay in here for then?" as he stood up from the bed.

"Another week or so..." Ichigo answered, unable to surpass a cough. Her hand quickly flew to her mouth, trapping whatever germs left her mouth. A weak smile graced her lips as the cough subsided, as if she was apologizing to Ryou for coughing. He returned the smile in the same apologetic manner.

"Well, I shall let you sleep. Sayonara, Ichigo-chan." And with saying that, Ryou turned away from Ichigo and headed for the door, leaving her in a tired, drained state.

* * *

Taori stormed swiftly down the stares, an angered look on her face as she bellowed, "How dare you insinuate that I care more about Ichigo than yourself! That is out of order, Minto! One more crack like that and you'll stay with your mother for good!"

"Fine," Minto began to retort, following Taori down the stairs in the same manner, "Be like that. I don't care. I'll be happier with my real parents; they're a whole lot better than you!"

Taori paused her steps, an eerie aura slowly radiating off her. Minto silently watched as Taori turned on the spot, her gaze hard and evil.

"Get out." She exhaled.

Minto blinked, "Beg pardon?"

"Get out!" Taori repeated, turning red in the face with anger, her voice vibrating in every nook and cranny of the house. She moved closer to Minto, who was now cowering at the top of the stairs.

It was wise not to mess with Taori; and anyone who did never lived to tell the tale. She was very powerful (Having lived for nearly 300 years, experiencing dangerous events and tragic encounters and being born to Vampire Royalty) and was known to have a temper, though new acquaintances would not usually think this since she gives off the impression that she is a bubbly character who is calm and gentle. Minto knew her very well, so she had an idea on what she was about to do to her.

* * *

The outskirts of Tokyo were very desolate and bleak, and was currently inhabited by vampires – four vampires to be exact: Satoshi, Monika, Oujou and Rei.

"Any sign of her?" Satoshi asked everyone.

"Nope." Monika answered, a solemn tone to her voice.

"Are you sure she didn't come across a slayer with a stake?" Oujou asked, a hint of sarcasm in his voice mixing with agitation.

"Oujou, if she was dead, she would've died when Minto bit her." Satoshi frowned.

"Hang on," Monika interrupted. "I thought Ryou bit Retasu, that's why he got expelled?"

"Nope," Satoshi began, clearing his throat as if he was about to make a very important speech, "Minto got angry at Retasu because she was flirting with Ryou, so she attacked her – well bit her to be exact, without thinking of the consequences. Ryou took the blame because Minto was already in hot water with her mother, and he decided to take the blame for it, getting expelled in her place so she wouldn't have to undergo anymore arguments with her parents. We know she is alive because Ichigo had a little run-in with her at the hospital during a visit a few days ago."

"So, basically, he was being generous for the first time in his life?" Rei asked skeptically.

Rei was a quiet lad who had the appearance of a fifteen year old, though his brain begged a differ. He was very confident around new people, but still acted like he was the shyest of them all. He was very selective about the people he hanged around with, though he got along with the clan just fine – well, all of them except Ryou.

Rei had a bad history with Ryou, since they were both bitten in the same month. Their vampire training was difficult, since there's only one qualified vampire teacher in their clan, and two of them who were bitten at the same time. Because of Ryou's sudden show of raw strength and ingenuity, he received the most training, whereas Rei had an hour a day to train, which could be damaging in a vampire's later life when he or she matures. Rei was able to mature, but did so at a late stage. He made up for it however by training himself by reading up on the history of vampires and learning about certain tactics and health risks to take heed on. This helped him mature into a vampire, but he was, and is still mocked by Ryou and a few others outside of his clan, and therefore built a healthy grudge against the blonde teen.

"Probably," Oujou shrugged, edging closer to Monika, "But, generous or not, he's still a bastard."

Monika gasped a little, smacking Oujou on the arm as she said, "Don't say that!" Oujou flinched as she hit him.

"And why not?!"Oujou asked.

"Because for one: That's foul language and two: You should not call a member of your own clan. That's just uncalled for!"

"That doesn't answer my question, Monika." Oujou stated, moving away from his girlfriend in fear of being hit again.

"Enough, you two," Satoshi shouted at the bickering couple. "Let's get moving. Akasaka-san wants us back by sundown." And with saying that, he led the vampires through the outskirts and into a small wood.

* * *

Two weeks had passed, and Ichigo was out of the hospital. She avoided the vampires as much as she could, but it was hard for her to do this when Minto went to the school next to hers, and she was sometimes picked up by recognizable vampires.

It was harder, however, to avoid Ryou. For those few days which she had spent with him were precious to her, but she would find it hard to befriend him after what he did to her. He was right though, I do treat it like a joke, she thought as she slowly ambled her way to school one morning. She had missed a lot of school, ever since the vampires made themselves cozy in her life. She didn't want to think about how much she needed to catch up on. Why was life so complicated for a teenager like herself? Or was she just exaggerating?

The school bell rang, indicating that students should be in their class rooms. Ichigo mixed in with the crowd of students who were entering the main building, all chatting animatedly amongst themselves as they began to leak into separate classrooms. Ichigo followed two brown-haired girls into classroom 2-C, where inside were up to ten students divided into two groups and a blonde, female teacher who looked like she was twenty and new to the school.

She turned to Ichigo, a small smile gracing her lips, "Hello there, and you are?"

Ichigo cleared her throat, stating her name.

"Well, nice to meet you Ichigo, I am Miss Nakamura and I am your new teacher. I believe that you have been in hospital for a week, which is why you have been off, am i correct?" Ichigo nodded her head, "Well, if you would like to take a seat anywhere you like."

Ichigo smiled awkwardly as she made her way towards the tables at the side of the room, lined against the windows. None of her friends had arrived yet, so she had to endure the first ten minutes or so of registration on her own.

After a period of time which seemed to last forever, the door slowly opened to reveal a small girl with bright orange hair.

"Oh, hello," Miss Nakamura began, "And you are?"

"Kari Yamaki," The orange-haired girl answered in a shyer manner than her appearance. She was wearing the school uniform, but it looked like it was too big for her, possibly a hand-me-down, and was hauling a satchel which seemed to have too many things crammed inside it. Her eyes were a solid green colour, standing out against her fair, pale, freckle-free skin. "I'm new."

When she stated this, half of the class were laughing at her, making her pale cheeks tint red.

"Well, it seems like I'm no longer the newbie of the classroom, eh?" Miss Nakamura beamed, clapping her hands delightfully. "Well, take a seat anywhere you like."

When the teacher said this, Ichigo scanned the room. There was no available seats left, except the one next to her, but that seat was usually taken by a silver-haired girl called Lily, who was Ichigo's best friend.

Timidly, Kari walked across the classroom and shyly took the seat next to Ichigo. Ichigo felt no need to protest, or mention the fact that Lily occupies that seat. But Lily was late, so she would just have to sit at the teacher's desk for the lesson if she bothered to come in.

Just then, though, Lily walked in.

"Sorry I'm late, Miss," She began, breathlessly, "My mother was held up in traffic so I had to run half of the way." She began to walk towards her usual seat, until she discovered that it was taken. She stopped in the middle of a step, picking up a strand of her hair and began to play with it as she turned to face the young teacher. "Miss, I have nowhere to sit."

Miss Nakamura frowned, before oddly smiling, "Looks like you'll have to sit at my desk." Miss stood up from her seat, and gesturing for Lily to sit, which she did before eying Kari conspicuously and suspiciously. "Well, let's begin the lesson, shall we?"

The class settled down as Miss Nakamura erupted in speech. Ichigo couldn't help but avert her attention to Kari, who looked like she was shaking uncontrollably with what seemed to be nerves.

Feeling brave, Ichigo smiled, staring at Kari as she whispered, "Hey there."

Kari looked like she had jumped out of her skin as she slowly turned to face Ichigo before replying, "Hey." In a shaky whisper.

"Have you lived in Tokyo all your life or have you moved from somewhere?" Ichigo asked.

Kari smiled faintly, "I'm from Osaka. I moved here with my cla – I mean, family about two months ago."

Ichigo nodded as she stored that information into her brain. "Well, nice to have you in Tokyo, Kari, my name is Ichigo." She discreetly raised a hand for Kari to shake, which, surprisingly, she gladly shook.

"Okay, class, get out your notebooks and answer the questions on the board."

Everyone did as directed; and Ichigo received a shock when she saw what was on Kari's book.

The front was a blood-red colour, looking like leather, with a silver spine decorated with rubies. There was a fang shaped lock on the front and a silhouette of another in the bottom right corner. The key she used to open it was weird; Ichigo was sure that she saw Kari prick her finger with it before placing it in the lock. When she opened it, the pages were old-fashioned, looking weak and tinted yellow like it was stained with tea.

"Interesting notebook," Ichigo stated, a light grimace on her face at the blood that seeped from the tip of her finger.

Kari's eyes lit as she faced Ichigo, "Thank you," She smiled. "It's quite special to me, actually. It's been passed down in my family for generations, because when it gets full you can erase the scrawls with the key."

"Ooh, sounds fascinating." Ichigo smiled, "Could you show me?"

"Okay." Kari agreed, taking out a pen from her bag. She flicked through the pages, until she came to a clean page, scribbled her name in a fancy font, before tapping it with the key. Before Ichigo's very eyes, the writing faded away, leaving the page blank like it used to be.

"Wow," Ichigo exhaled. "That's awesome. How does it do that?"

Kari just shrugged, returning to her shy state. She began to scribble in her notebook, looking up every now and then at the board so she knew what she had to write.

Ichigo didn't realize that Lily had been watching the pair in slight jealousy for the past fifteen minutes, and had decided to pass their table and knock Kari's bag off the table before saying "Oops, sorry." and waltzing back to her seat.

Kari looked down before timidly leaning over the side of the table to pick up her things which had been dispensed all over the floor. Whilst doing this, she turned a page in her book, which Ichigo couldn't help but read.

_The girl was nowhere to be seen today. Akira could not find her. Kisshu searched high and low with Taruto and Pai. Dipu Buru simply told us to continue our search, not even offering us a break for all our hard work. He really wants to find them before the Akasaka clan, and so do I. Apparently, Retasu has a lot of raw power which Dipu Buru needs for a reason I do not know, nor will be told._

Ichigo stopped reading as Kari had finished gathering her things and had picked up her pen to write in her strange, revealing book.

Clearing her throat, Ichigo asked, "Do you believe in vampires, Kari?" In as calm a voice as she could conjure up.

Kari just nodded, turning the page back to the previous which had her work on. "Interesting." Ichigo said, feeling an unusual sense of fear for her vampire friends.


	13. Finding Retasu

**Oh my goodyness! It's been sooo long since i last updated! Apologies to those who waited! Thanks to those who waited. Muchos Gracias :)**

* * *

**Chapter 13: Finding Retasu (Part One)**

Lunch time approached, and Ichigo continued to befriend Kari as she attempted to find out why she believed in Vampires, and why she was writing about her vampire friend.

"I believe in Vampires," Ichigo exclaimed as she got in line for lunch, grabbing a bowl of rice, "But if I told anyone, they would think I'm crazy...and I'm not a crazy person...at least, I don't think I am..."

The change of facial expressions during Ichigo's speech forced Kari to giggle, and Ichigo was able to witness the most charming smile, as well as some sharp canines, "You're funny, Ichigo-chan."

Ichigo beamed, "Arigatou!"

"Ichigo-chan," The two girls turned around to meet an angered looking, silver-haired girl, "Why didn't you meet me outside home economics before?" Lily sent a disgusted glance at Kari.

"Er..." Ichigo tried to think of a good explanation to give to Lily. Unfortunately, none came, "I'm sorry, Lily, but I've been too busy showing Kari around and I guess I forgot." Her voice lowered as Lily sent another look of disapproval at Kari, who just looked down in shame.

"Ichigo," Lily began, shoving Kari out of the way to get closer to the guilty red-head, "You need to make a decision. It's either me," She pointed at herself, "Or her!" She gestured towards the orange-head and walked away triumphantly, as if she had won Ichigo's friendship over Kari.

Ichigo froze in the queue; why did Lily give her an ultimatum? I shouldn't have to choose between them, Ichigo thought as she watched Lily leave the classroom.

"Ichigo..."

Kari's soft voice beckoned Ichigo and removed her from her thoughts, "Yes, Kari-chan?"

Kari sighed, "You can choose Lily, obviously I wasn't chosen to be immortal to make friends so-"

"What did you say?" Ichigo gasped, slightly taken aback by what was said.

Kari stuttered, "Er...nothing. I've got to go." And with that, she placed her tray down and jolted out of the classroom, hand over mouth and hair trailing slowly behind in a mysterious, but elegant manner.

* * *

Ryou shifted his weight onto his right side as he leaned against the fencing that surrounded Haruhoshi High School for girls. Ichigo had avoided him and his clan for a while now, and he decided that this would be the day that her hostility ended.

The last time he had spoken to her was when she was in the hospital, the day everyone in the clan celebrated her being discharged after three weeks, and she hardly spoke to him then; the only words they spoke were:

"_Konichiwa, Ichigo-chan."_

"_Ryou-kun."_

The Haruhoshi school bell rung loudly and soon enough, every student in the school spilled through the main doors. Ryou scanned the area for a glimpse of red hair, but he found himself looking at orange hair, which drew close to him.

He recognised the orange-haired girl. He knew who she was and how he knew her, but he had no clue as to what she was doing here, her and the rest of her crew.

When she was in reach, he pulled her away from the crowd of females and viciously pinned her against the fencing.

"Hey-"

When she looked up at whom she was addressing, her eyes widened, "What're you doing here?"

"Better question is," Ryou growled, "What're you doing at Ichigo's school?!"

Kari gulped, "That's classified."

Ryou shook Kari, "Tell me!"

Kari looked down, eyes averting to the black car that slowly approached the two vampires. She focused her attention on the car window which electronically opened, and revealed a sandy blonde haired clan member of hers.

"I need to go," She feebly spoke, not moving her eyes away from the sandy blonde.

Reluctantly, Ryou let go of her, and Kari quickly jumped into the car before it sped along the street toward the other side of town.

After watching the car leave his sight, Ryou turned around and was greeted by red hair, the hair he was looking for.

* * *

Taori paced up and down in the empty, mysteriously atmospheric living room. Almost a month had passed since the search for Retasu had begun, and there was no sign of her.

She knew that they had to find her fast. She knew that other clans wanted this now rogue vampire. Her powers were still to be recognised and analysed; for all anyone knew, Retasu could be the most powerful vampire ever, or the weakest.

She could have the skill to run to America and back in less than a second; she could lift 3000 times her weight with ease; she could be logical, earning herself a high spot in the VCM (Vampire Court of Misjudgement) when she came of the right age to apply.

She could be reckless and help humans discover vampires; she could be a weak fighter or have a bad sense of judgement.

Who knows?

"Taori! You there?"

The sound from the walkie-talkie filled the room quickly, and Taori quickly pounced on it like a ravenous tiger, and answered, "Satoshi, what is it?"

Her breaths grew heavy, her heart raced like the speed of light. Had they found Retasu?

"You'd better come down here, quickly. "

"I'm on my way." Taori answered, and ran out of the house, walkie-talkie in hand and ears and eyes alert.

* * *

"Konichiwa, Ichigo-chan," Ryou said, looking directly at Ichigo.

"Ryou-kun," She stuttered, looking down from his gaze.

Ichigo felt nervous as Ryou's gaze burned deep into her skin. She had managed to keep her distance for so long, so why not now?

"How've you been?" He asked her, looking up at the cloudy sky softly.

"Okay, I guess," She squeaked, "You?"

"Yeah, I've been okay," He quickly glanced at her – she was looking down at the pavement, hands clasped around each other securely and hair covering her eyes – before turning his head in the direction Kari and Akira went in the black car, "Tell me, Ichigo, have you come across an orange-haired girl by the name of Kari?"

"So she is a vampire..." Ichigo looked shocked, but she didn't sound it. Her voice was weak and low, and she sounded like she had aged overnight.

"You're quick!" Ryou stated mockingly, and continued, "Did she mention anything vampire-related to you?"

Ichigo looked up, "She didn't say it, but she keeps this diary-" She paused.

"Go on." Ryou persisted, wanting to squeeze as much information from her as he could on the subject.

"This diary had a page that talked about Retasu and raw power – oh, and it also mentioned someone called Dipu Buru...and Taruto and Pai?"

A sigh escaped Ryou's lips; it sounded very aggressive, "Oh boy."

"Is something wrong?" Ichigo quietly asked, not expecting to be answered.

Ryou looked down at Ichigo; she was looking right at him with her soft brown eyes that oozed with colour. Ryou was refraining himself from cracking a smile, and managed to do so by portraying a serious look and said, "Come on." And walked away from the school.

* * *

"Satoshi! Have you found her?!" Taori caught up with Satoshi, Rei, Monika and Oujou, who were all stood defensively parallel to another group of vampires.

In the middle of these vampires, was Retasu.

Retasu looked very dirty. A green, mossy-liquid looking thing had covered her body, acting as a shield for her fair skin (Only her hands, feet and above her neck was unprotected). Her hair was tangled and greasy, with a few twigs and leaves scattered about in it. It was flowing down to her lower back, and her fringe was draping over a pair of vicious dark eyes. She looked like a forest-creature, and had a sense of elegance about her.

"Retasu-chan!" Taori shouted, and she was surprised when Retasu turned to face her, though her expression was less than unfriendly. It was emotionless and blank. "Retasu-chan, it's okay."

"I've been trying to charm her," Monika stated, "But it's not working."

"She's rogue, nothing works on a rogue," Taori stated, "The only way to get her over on our side is if she chooses to join us herself –"

"But shouldn't she do that anyway, cause one of our's bit her?" Oujou angrily asked.

"You would think that, but no. If the newly-turned has not been cared for in the correct way after 48 hours of turning, then they turn rogue, just like she has."

Two more vampires joined the opposing group (Kari and Akira) and the group began to confer, as were the Akasaka-clan.

"I'll bet Keiichiro'll know what to do," Oujou frowned, "Why isn't he here?"

"Keiichiro has been called to the main clan, to help with the VCM trial their facing." Taori said, and sighed, "He said the only way to get her to join us is to remain calm, don't fear – she'll sense it and run – and just wait."

So, they did. And nothing happened. The Aoi clan did the same thing, though Akira twitched every now and then, obviously wanting a fight with someone.

"Taori-san!"

She turned around at the call of her name and saw Ryou and Ichigo running up to her, "Ryou – and Ichigo-chan! How nice to see you again!" When in reach, Taori pulled Ichigo into a very warm hug.

"Konbanwa, Taori-san." Ichigo managed to say.

"Ichigo-chan!" Monika squealed, and instantly drifted towards her favourite human.

Ichigo received a hug off Monika, but was distracted by an unnerving feeling. She turned her head to see Retasu staring directly at her.

"Retasu-chan?" She said in a confused manner, and for some reason, she began to walk over towards the rogue.

"Taori? What is she doing?" Oujou asked in disbelief.

Taori answered baffled, "I don't know." And looked right at Ichigo who was inches away from Retasu, "Be careful, Ichigo-chan!"

All vampires watched questioningly as Ichigo communicated with her ex-friend-now-vampire, "Retasu-chan, what's happened to you?"

Retasu did nothing but stare at Ichigo. No one could tell what emotion she was portraying at any time.

Retasu didn't speak – she couldn't speak – she only screeched as loud as she possibly could.

* * *

Minto carried her suitcase down the stairs with both hands. She was fed up of the clan. She was sick and tired of having countless arguments and fights with Taori, who disliked her anyway. She was tired of feeling angry whenever she passed Ryou's room, knowing that he didn't care for her anymore now that someone else was in the picture.

What reason did she have to stay in this house?

Passing the wall mirror hanging by the stairs, she noticed her appearance. A purple bruise shined on her cheek, and her busted lip pounded in pain. Her eyes carried bags, a sign of tiredness. She and Taori were always fighting, but her power could not surpass Taori's, which meant every time the pair fought she lost humiliatingly.

Beginning to sob, she opened the door and fled the house, returning to her mother's home on the other side of town.

* * *

"Retasu-chan," Ichigo began, sitting down on the floor besides her friend, "Remember in grade 2, when we..."

"Taori, is Ichigo doing this for a reason?" Oujou asked, pointing lazily at the red-head.

Baffled, Taori answered, "I have no idea."

The two clans watched inquisitively, as Ichigo continued to reminisce with Retasu. What was she doing?

Ryou and Akira were both glaring at each other, attempting to coax the other into turning away or beginning a fight. If one did begin a fight, especially in front of their clan, then they would have to undergo a trial, and that would be painfully tedious.

"...and then you..."

Look at him, Akira thought as he continued to glare at his rival, he thinks he's so special, but he isn't...grr he makes me so mad!

Within a second, Akira was on top of Ryou, swinging punches at his face. Ryou attempted to wrestle him off, but he couldn't see well because of Akira's attacks. He eventually threw him off with a struggle, and scrambled to his feet. Akira threw more punches at Ryou, and now noticed that they were surrounded by their clans; the Aoi clan repeatedly told Akira to knock Ryou out whereas the Akasaka clan just stood calm. Defending his upper body, Ryou kicked Akira in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. This was a good opportunity to throw punches of his own at Akira, as well as kicking him some more so he was knocked to the floor.

As the fighting continued, Ichigo was still talking to Retasu about the past. She hadn't realised that everyone was huddled around Ryou and Akira.

"Do you remember when we dressed up as pirates that time? When we were at the seaside, and we rented some boats and played Pirates of the Caribbean? You were Elizabeth Swann, and I was Cotton, and Minto was Annamaria, and Zakuro was Barbossa? That was a great-huh?"

Ichigo noticed that Retasu was smiling, and her eyes were no longer vicious; they were calm and sweet, and slowly returning to the blue colour they originally were.

"Retasu-chan! You're eyes!" She squealed excitedly, "Okay, on with the stories, they're working-"

Before she could continue, she got shoved to the side vigorously. She fell against a rock, bashing her head against its hard surface, and slipped into unconsciousness.


	14. Filling the Swimming Pool with Water

**This chapter is a little short, but some people may like this, others may not... haha**

**Thanks reviewers and readers :)**

* * *

Chapter Fourteen: Filling the Swimming Pool with Water

"Not again." Oujou growled as he walked over to the unconscious Ichigo, scooping her up with one swift movement of his strong arms. He was about to run from the scene with Ichigo, but was stopped by Taori.

"No, Oujou, you stay here. We need you, let Satoshi take her-"

"Me?!" Satoshi repeated angrily, "Why not Rei?!"

"Because this experience will do his training good," Rei smiled at Taori's comment, "Now go!"

Satoshi mumbled something under his uneven breaths, and took Ichigo from Oujou before belting off into the distance, where the sun was slowly setting over the scene.

* * *

"Ohayou, Momomiya-san."

Ichigo's weary eyes awakened themselves by scanning the room, her ears focusing on the female voice speaking to her.

When Ichigo recognised her surroundings, she let out a soft moan of displeasure, "Not again." Sitting up in the hospital bed, she asked the nurse if she could leave.

"Not at the moment, I'm afraid," She began looking through Ichigo's hospital notes, sticking her tongue out as she scribbled something down, "The doctor is worried about the state of your health and wants you to recover for a few days –"

Ichigo interrupted, "And how long have I been in here for?"

"Erm…" The nurse flicked through the notes, "Since last Wednesday…and today is Monday. You've been unconscious for days. That last blow to your head really knocked you out." Ichigo let out a sigh, turning her head to view the window. The nurse cleared her throat, "I'll leave you to rest now."

Ichigo paid no attention to the nurse as she walked over to the door, and did not realise that she had stopped.

"Ichigo, you have visitors."

Ichigo didn't reply.

She was too busy watching enviously at the swaying trees, the singing birds, and the people leaving the hospital. How she wished to spend at least a week out of hospital.

"Ichigo-chan?"

Ichigo slowly turned her head to see Monika in sight, smiley and happy, "Hey." Ichigo cringed at the way her voice returned the greeting; her voice was all weak and croaky.

"Ichigo-chan, I have some good news – well, we have some good news."

Ichigo looked behind Monika, "You're the only one here."

Monika giggled as she slid to the door, and slowly opened it to reveal two people and another one who was hidden.

The two people she knew – Ryou and Taori – and when the third person was revealed, Ichigo made her first earnest smile of the week.

"Retasu-chan!" Ichigo jumped off her bed and ran to hug her friend, who smiled back at her warmly.

"Ichigo-chan, it's so good to see you!"

Retasu looked different to how Ichigo last saw her; she was wearing a floor-length white skirt, with a pale green vest top with similar coloured flip-flops. No mossy green stuff travelled up her arm, and her hair hung loosely in pig tails rather than looking like a tangled mess.

As Ichigo was hugging Retasu, her eyes glanced over at Ryou. He was leaning against the wall, eyes gazing out of the same window Ichigo was looking at moments before. They looked thirsty and the bags under his eyes gave the impression that he had not had much sleep. She began to think of the possibilities why this may be, but the reasons didn't seem to make sense to her, so she shrugged them out of her mind and removed herself from the hug, not taking her eyes off him.

"Retasu-chan, we need to leave soon to begin the next step of your training." Taori flicked her gaze to the wall clock before stepping out of the room.

"Okay," Retasu turned from Taori to Ichigo, "I'll see you round, Ichigo-chan!" And she left, leaving Ichigo alone in the room with Ryou.

At least ten minutes had passed, and the only sounds heard were made by the birds singing outside and the busy nurses and doctors passing by. There wasn't much movement, only the two of them shifting into comfortable positions. One noticeable movement was when Ryou sat down on the armchair situated beside the window.

"This spot right here," He began to say, not looking at Ichigo, but acquiring her attention, "I've sat right here since Wednesday night, only leaving to feed and change clothes etc."

Ichigo looked guiltily at Ryou; was this proof that he cared for her? Watching her since the day she was landed in hospital? (At least this fitted with her reason why he hadn't much sleep)

He continued to speak, "I've sat here, days on end, not taking my eyes off you. That may sound like a lie, considering I was the reason you were in here last time…that'll never leave my mind," His voice formed into a growl with anger, "I hate myself for what I did to you. I haven't been able to forgive myself. For what I did to you."

Ichigo could not believe what sentences were said by Ryou, and how genuine he sounded saying them. A warm smile sent its way to Ryou as his words carved themselves into her heart.

"Thanks."

Ryou looked up at Ichigo, surprised by hearing her voice, "Thanks for what?"

Ichigo looked down, "I don't know…everything I guess," She began to fiddle with the bed sheets out of nervousness, "I mean, you've helped me when I've been a liability, when I've been as useless as a swimming pool without water. I guess I should say I'm sorry-"

Ichigo ceased her speech as she felt a hand under her chin. Her face was turned to look at Ryou; she was too busy speaking to notice that he had walked over to her. He felt the sudden, quickening beats of her heart explode in her chest as her skin heated up with nervous excitement. There was a sudden urge inside her that wanted to move closer to Ryou, to feel his smooth skin, to gaze into his icy blue eyes, to taste his blood red lips…

Silence buzzed violently around the room as the two teens sat with it; neither one moved to the other as they were both fighting to resist their urges for one another. Ryou seemed to be fighting a lot of urges as he too wanted to kiss her, but he also wanted to sink his teeth into her fragile neck, to pierce her less paler flesh and suck the colour out of it.

Both teens were moving millimetres closer to each other, allowing yet resisting their temptations. Ichigo was doing well to fight the urges, but something in Ryou suddenly snapped, and his lips were pushed firmly onto Ichigo's.

The coldness of his lips startled Ichigo, but she kissed back lightly as her brain was slowly adjusting to what was happening. Her heart pounded like a drum performing a celebratory rhythm as her mind crawled with happy thoughts about her and Ryou. As the kiss progressed, the two teens slowly heated with growing passion, the pressure on their lips increasing incredibly.

In a second Ichigo was pinned down on the bed by Ryou, the two still passionately kissing. Ichigo was feeling many emotions as her hands found themselves in a comfortable position around Ryou's neck. She began to wonder whether or not she and Ryou would be going all the way at that moment, or if she was being far too hasty.

Ryou was strangely thinking a similar thing; would they go all the way, or would he not be able to resist her?

Ever since he had first met Ichigo, he could not resist the smell of strawberries she emitted. Her scent sent chills up and down his spine, and the strong urge to suck her blood pulsed inside his body. However, this urge was far stronger, and Ryou's lips fell to Ichigo's neck…

"No!"

Both tore apart from each other in shock, Ryou against the wall and Ichigo sat upright on the hospital bed, holding her neck where Ryou's lips were. Both were gasping for air from breaking apart, and Ichigo was confused as to why Ryou protested.

"We can't." He softly said, eyes averted to the window.

"But why?" Ichigo stupidly asked, gaze straight forward towards Ryou.

Ryou's voice raised itself into a soft growl, "We just can't!" then softened to say, "I'm sorry." Before leaving the room.


	15. Do You Like Him?

**I'm looking at the reviews you people have been submitting, and I've finally received reviews where someone has given me something to work with! Thank you light soceress! I hope I shall do you justice ^^ Also thanks to DarkBlueEyedWolf and Maddiejane94 for reviewing :) On that note, I am going to try and keep this as far as I can from Twilight and if I drift back towards it, let me know ASAP!**

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen: Do You Like Him?**

Ichigo's eyes were stuck on the spot where Ryou was just stood, before he left her confused and hurt. She continuously wondered why he had just kissed her then ditched her, saying that they can't. It was strange to think that Ryou did kiss her, as their relationship had not been blissful at all. It was more of a rollercoaster for them, as some points were sweet and others were rocky and not-so-sweet.

Sighing, she lay back down in the hospital bed, a single tear rolling down her cheek and landing softly on the bed sheets.

* * *

"Ohayou, Ichigo-chan,"

Ichigo swivelled round on the spot as she heard Monika shout her name, "Hi." She replied unenthusiastically. Ichigo looked up at the sky; the sun was beating down heavily, and confusion struck as she peered back at Monika, "Isn't the sun hurting you or anything?"

Monika smiled, "I put on sun screen," She rooted through her shoulder bag (Which sported a very gothic decoration) and pulled out a white tube with bold print on it saying 'SUN BLOCK – EXTRA STRONG' and flashed it quickly at Ichigo before placing it back in to her bag. "I have naturally fair skin and my skin burnt in the summer anyway, but this does well for my weakness to the sunlight, so I can stay out longer."

Ichigo smiled calmly as she and Monika began to proceed down the street. Curious, she asked, "What are you doing, anyway?"

"I'm getting Oujou a present for his 'birthday'." She replied, her eyes squinting through the sunlight, "And while I'm here, I'll get some shades too, my eyes are killing in this weather-"

"Oh, hey you can use mine for the time-being," Ichigo fished through her bag to get the dark sunglasses to lend to Monika.

"Oh, thanks!" Monika joyously smiled, receiving the sunglasses and placing them on her face, "Aah, much better." She sighed contently. "Hey, well what're you doing today?"

Ichigo sighed, "Nothing, I've just spent too much time in hospital so I've missed a lot of sunshine, pity the summer season's finishing." She said whilst peering over at the park, where the once fresh, green leaves were fading to oranges and browns, a sign of the autumn season approaching quickly.

"Oh, I can't wait for summer to end. I'm running out of sun screen-" She stopped walking as something slipped into her brain, "Ichigo-chan, may I ask you something?"

Ichigo answered, "Sure," Unsurely as she too stopped to stay with Monika. "What's on your mind?"

"What happened with you and Ryou when we left the hospital that day?"

Ichigo gulped, the memory from the last week flooding back into her mind, "Nothing." She lied.

Monika sent her a look which told Ichigo that she knew she was lying, "Ichigo, if nothing happened, then why did I find this in Ryou's room and he hasn't been home since the day he wrote this which was…that Wednesday night?"

Ichigo's heart stopped: He ran away?

"He ran away?" Ichigo repeated in a shocked manner.

Monika nodded sadly, "He hasn't been home since, and we all thought that you might know where he went, since you were the last person to see him. We didn't even know he came back to the house that day to write this."

"I don't know where he is." Ichigo couldn't take her eyes off the piece of paper Monika was holding in her hand. "If I did I would tell you."

Monika didn't reply for a while; her eyes were scanning Ichigo for any doubt in what she said, to see if she was lying, but she couldn't find anything. Eventually, she sighed, and said, "Fine. Okay, I believe you. But if you see or hear anything…let us know."

Monika was about to walk away until Ichigo stopped her, "Monika, may I have that? The note?" Monika handed her the note before walking away.

* * *

"Goodnight, Ichigo-chan!"

"Goodnight, mother!"

The hallway light went out, and Ichigo switched her lamp on, illuminating the room. She focused the light on the piece of paper that sat on the desk, and her eyes couldn't tear themselves away from it.

She was analysing Ryou's handwriting; it was scruffier than she remembered (She had only seen his handwriting once before), but it was still very neat and tidy. Some smudges were evident, and some words were scratched away, but were still readable.

Ichigo still hadn't read the note. A part of her didn't want to in case it ridiculed her in any way, but a part of her desperately wanted to know what he thought.

Taking a deep breath, her hand slowly crept towards the note, but flinched away several times.

"Ugh!" She growled, throwing her arms in the air, "Why does my life have to suck so badly?!" She took another deep breath, closing her eyes, but the note still appeared in her mind. "Okay, okay I'll read it."

Sighing again, she picked up the paper carefully, and read what it had to say.

_I'm fed up of this. Why am I what I am? Why can I not be a carefree, happy human like the rest of them? Why am I plagued with supernatural skills that the humans desire to have? Why can I not walk down a sunny street and not fear that I have to seek shelter soon? Why can I not treasure every part of my life and perform a dare-devilling act and think 'oh wow, well I only live once'? Why can I not enjoy a passionate moment with a human girl without having the desire to pierce her flesh and suck the blood out of her veins? I want to die. I want to die and go to heaven, and then I cannot hurt her. I can watch over her and protect her. I'm best off taking myself out of her life, where she cannot be harmed by me in any way._

Part of the note was scratched out, but Ichigo managed to make out most of it:

_If I find a way to become human, I will come back for her. I don't want her to be with anybody else when I return…if I return._

Ichigo was confused by the note. She had assumed so far that he was talking about her, especially when he mentioned kissing the girl and wanting to pierce her flesh. Ichigo's hand subconsciously flew to her neck, and it tingled as she remembered the kiss.

She read on:

_I have the strangest feeling for her: she sometimes drives me crazy, but I have this undying passion for her._

_I feel stupid._

Ichigo's heart pounded with guilt as she placed the note on the desk. Why did she have to be caught up in all of this? Why couldn't she be like other teenage girls her age, who worried about their appearance and celebrity boys?

A tapping sound came from the window and tore Ichigo away from her thoughts. She wondered what it was, but she ignored it until it happened again, but louder. Feeling curious, but scared, Ichigo walked over to her bedroom window where the tapping happened another time. She slid her bedroom window open, and a gust of wind blew into her face. She turned away from the window, and her heart jumped when she saw someone else in her room.

"Konbanwa, Ichigo-chan."

Ichigo wondered why Akira was in her bedroom, but she couldn't bring herself to ask him why. She always felt intimidated whenever she was in his presence, but she tried to forget that, and she plucked up the courage to ask Akira, "What are you doing in my bedroom?" Her voice almost a whisper in hope that her parents did not wake up.

Akira laughed softly, "Why, Ichigo-chan, I have merely come here to see if you were okay. After all, you were shoved aside by me that day when we were after Retasu, and I have come to apologise for that. I did not mean to hurt you. I fell into-"

"I don't care about that at the moment." Ichigo interrupted, raising her hand to cease his speech, "Surely you didn't come all the way here to apologise for that. So, why are you here?"

Akira sighed, "Okay." He cleared his throat, "Kari and I have been spying on Retasu's training, and we have discovered that she is very talented. She has skills which could be of use to our clan. Now, I figured that you could convince her to join our clan, since you can connect with her on a really high level."

"And why would I do that?" Ichigo asked shakily, not trying to sound too defiant in case it cost her.

"Well," Akira began, "I heard that Ryou has disappeared. And I know where he is."

Ichigo's heart stopped, "You do?"

Akira nodded, "Hai, but I cannot tell you where he is unless you agree to help us." He walked over to Ichigo and lightly placed her hand into his own. He interlaced his fingers between hers, "Will you help us? Or would you like some time to consider my offer?" He raised their hands and placed a light, gentle kiss on the back of her hand. "Will you think about it?" Ichigo nodded. "Good." Akira smiled, and he slowly leaned towards her face and confidently planted a kiss on her cheek. He noticed that she didn't hesitate or shove him away. Curious, he said, "Tell me, do you like Ryou?"

Ichigo looked up dazed, "Huh?"

Akira repeated his question, and Ichigo shrugged her shoulders; she didn't actually know herself whether or not she liked Ryou. The way he acted with her questioned her capability of liking him, but she did indeed cared for him, and she desperately wanted to know if he was okay, but she didn't want to jeopardise her relationship with the Akasaka clan. They treated her like one of their own and made her feel welcome, unlike Minto who had disappeared herself. Thinking of Minto made Ichigo think that the two runaways were together. Surely they weren't…


	16. Ultimatum

**Update ! Sorry, I've been busy with exams and life and shiz. I have 2 new piercings though ^^ But they're obstructing my eating and drinking -.- (I have my lip and tongue pierced by the way) :P**

**Sorry as well cause I think I've made Ichigo extremely depressed like. :)**

**Enjoy**

* * *

**Chapter 16: Ultimatum**

The following morning Ichigo awoke slowly, her mind buzzing with thoughts from the previous day. Why did she run into Monika? Why couldn't she have enjoyed a pleasant walk in the sunshine without being interrupted by the problems of other people? But this was her problem. She caused it, so she believed, and she had to resolve it, but was there a way for her to find out where Ryou was without having to persuade her friend to become the enemy?

Rising out of her slumber, she got out of her bed; her eyes cast themselves towards the note that still lay upon the desk. Worrying thoughts about Ryou's safety penetrated her mind, and to stop her concerns playing with her mind, she scooted over to the desk and picked up the note before hiding it in her desk drawer.

_Out of sight, out of mind,_ she boldly thought as took a step backwards. As her foot landed back on the floor, another incident from last night replayed in her mind.

_Akira sighed, "Okay." He cleared his throat, "Kari and I have been spying on Retasu's training, and we have discovered that she is very talented. She has skills which could be of use to our clan. Now, I figured that you could convince her to join our clan, since you can connect with her on a really high level."…_ _"I heard that Ryou has disappeared. And I know where he is."…"I cannot tell you where he is unless you agree to help us."_

Ichigo shuddered as she also remembered the soft kiss Akira gave her on the cheek, regretting that she did not stop him. She was happy that it wasn't on the lips, but she found his lips softer than Ryou's, and thinking of Ryou made her think of their kiss, and him disappearing. She frowned as she continued to believe that she was at fault for his absconding behaviour.

Why did Akira have to blackmail her? Ichigo didn't like the idea of being blackmailed, heck, not many people do, but Ichigo desperately wanted to know where Ryou was, for his safety. She tried to convince herself that that was the only reason why she wanted to find him.

Suddenly removing herself from her thoughts, Ichigo shook her head and began to dress herself for the day.

* * *

The watch on his wrist read 7:30am, and Ryou looked over at the bustling people walking along the streets in a hurry, the cars racing to get to their destination on time, the buses holding up all the traffic. Sighing, he looked down at the ground, not being able to distract his thoughts away from a certain red head that played on his mind ever since he kissed her.

When he kissed Ichigo, his heart raced faster than it ever had done. It was liked he had experienced something new, and this triggered a sunken feeling to arise within him. He didn't intend to run away from his feelings; he thought it was for the best, at the time. Over the past week he had considered returning to Ichigo, but what could he say to her? That he loved her and wanted to spend the rest of her life with her? That they could work on a relationship together and see where it led them? He knew that it wouldn't work anyway, for who he was - for what he was.

He didn't want to admit it, but he was scared.

* * *

"Ichigo-chan?" Retasu walked up to her friend who was sat on a park bench observing the surrounding view of happy people, "I haven't seen you since you left the hospital, how've you been?"

Ichigo slowly turned her head to face Retasu, who was wearing an inviting smile, the kind that just screams 'tell me your troubles!', "I've been okay, just thinking a lot about things."

"Anything in particular?"

Ichigo was fighting the urge to persuade Retasu to leave the Akasaka clan, but she didn't want to put her feelings ahead of the friendship she had with Retasu.

Ichigo first met Retasu when she had taken a part time job at the local café, and ever since, their friendship had been strong. She remembered the first words they had said to each other:

"_Table five needs to order." Ichigo lazily stated, ripping an order out of the notebook she was carrying._

"_Ah, hai –" The sound of smashing china broke around the room and Retasu cringed, flapping her arms about in a panic, "Oh my, I'm a klutz! I'll go and get something to sweep it up with."_

Smiling to herself and not wanting to disrupt their friendship at the moment, Ichigo answered, "Just whether to go to the funfair or not, seeing as it's the last day and all."

"I would come with you, but I've got training in five minutes. I was on my just then until I saw you. You looked very lonely…" Retasu quietened down and looked away from Ichigo, worrying in case she touched on a sensitive subject.

At the mention of training, Ichigo got another urge to ask Retasu about her commitment to the clan, and she couldn't resist the urge, "Do you like all the training your doing?"

Retasu frowned, "Not really, Taori and Keiichiro work me to death, even though I can't die, but it feels like I could just drop dead from exhaustion. I guess I'm just not used to it."

Ichigo gulped, "Well, what if you just, didn't go to your training sessions? Just leave them and enjoy being immortal."

Retasu thought for a short moment before sighing, "I can't. I need the help. I remember some moments of my rogue days, and it was hell. I'm not going back to those again. And I should be going to my session now, bye Ichigo-chan!" Retasu left in a hurry, and Ichigo watched as her friend speed-walked away, her stomach twisting in knots.

Now what was she to do?

"Well, that didn't go so well."

Ichigo snapped her head to the side where she saw Akira sat next to her on the side bench. She found it strange that she did not feel his presence before.

"I think we need to take a different approach for this situation." Akira leaned back on the park bench and looked up at the cloudy sky, "Hmm…it's going to rain in less than five minutes time…anyway, Ichigo…"

Ichigo switched off as she looked up at the bleak sky; if it was going to rain, she didn't fancy sitting outside in it. The clouds were rolling past each other, some connecting to create one huge cloud. The sounds of families rushing out of the park were heard through her ears, and she sighed a little.

"Ichigo-chan," Akira began, taking a deep breath, "I do not appreciate being ignored. I shall repeat what I just said: If Retasu is unwilling to leave her clan, we could always give her an ultimatum."

Ichigo turned to face Akira, "Which would be?"

A ghostly smirk spread across Akira's face, his eyes glinting evilly, "We could always kidnap her best friend…of course it will not be an official kidnap, because we will keep you safe and-"

"Wait one minute!" Ichigo screamed, interrupting a startled Akira, "You want to fake kidnap me to get her? Why don't you just kidnap her? Or is she too powerful for you to handle or something?" Ichigo sighed as she stood up from the park bench. "I'm not being any part of this. I'm not letting you get your hands on Retasu-chan. She's my best friend."

"And what about Ryou?" Akira asked, knowing that he would get Ichigo's attention, "Are you just going to leave him where he is?"

Ichigo froze still; she was faced away from Akira, so he couldn't see her eyes soften and glaze over with tears. Her heart beated slowly as a hint of guilt pounded at her conscience. It was like she was given an ultimatum of her own: Best friend or Ryou?

She weighed out her options carefully; if she chose to keep Retasu safe, she wouldn't know where Ryou would be, and he may never come back. But if she went against her best friend, she would know where he is, but what if he doesn't want to see her? What if he's with Minto? What if the both mock her and state the fact that she would go against her friends for boys.

Sighing, she said, "I couldn't care less where he is." And she walked away from the bench, towards the exit of the park.

"Hmm…" Akira smirked as he lay back on the bench, his arms crossed behind his head, "Bad luck Ryou, she doesn't want you after all."

Ryou jumped smoothly down from the tree that stood behind the bench Akira and Ichigo were sat on and walked over to Akira, hands in his pockets, "How did you know I was here?"

Akira chuckled slightly, "Ryou, you follow Ichigo like a lovesick puppy. You have been spying on her ever since you left her in the hospital. When she is sleeping you hide in the tree in her back garden, watching her every move. You are like a sick, perverted fool-"

A quick punch landed on Akira's face, and he slumped down on the park bench whilst covering his nose. Ryou was breathing heavily out of anger, and was resisting the urge to beat Akira to a pulp.

Akira smirked underneath his hand, "You may as well give up following her. After all, she 'couldn't care less where you are'."

Ryou didn't reply to that comment – he couldn't reply to that comment. He was right; he heard Ichigo say that herself. What made her think like that? He thought she liked him. He liked her. He may have loved her, which is why he wondered why it hurt so much for her to say what she did.

Feeling very defeated, Ryou walked away, heart sinking and cursing his immortal state.

* * *

"Ichigo honey, bedtime! You have school tomorrow!" Ichigo's mother shouted from downstairs.

"I know mother, night!" Ichigo switched her bedroom light off and waited a few seconds for her mother and father to enter their bedroom. When it was safe, she tip-toed over to her desk and flicked the lamp on by the switch before sitting down in the desk chair and sighing.

She regretted saying that she couldn't care less where Ryou was. She really wanted to know where he was. She wanted to know if he was safe, if he was thinking of her, like she was thinking of him.

She opened the draw of her desk, and the note he wrote was in clear reach. Ichigo pulled out the note and held it carefully in her hands, making sure not to bend it or crease it. She read it over and over again until the words had no meaning whatsoever.

"Ryou, where are you?" Ichigo turned around to stare out of her bedroom window, hoping that she would see him.

It was fairly dark outside, meaning summer was ending as the sun now set earlier than usual. The only thing she could see from where she was sitting was a silhouette of a Sakura tree that swayed with the wind. She got up to take a closer look, and a huge gust of wind welcomed her when she opened her window. Her body shook at the cold, and she wondered where Ryou was. If he was warm and safe from the cold. If he wanted to come inside her bedroom where they could warm each other up.

She squinted her eyes as she gazed outside, hoping that she could see a human shadowed figure. None was seen. Sighing unhappily, she closed her window, switched her light off and went to sleep.

"_The night she wanted him there was the first night he couldn't care less what she was doing…" _Akira smirked as he walked away from Ichigo's house.

* * *

**How was that one ? Reviews would be lovely ^^**


	17. The Wrong Kind

**Hey everyone! I am so sorry for the mega-long period you've had to wait to see this update! I've been busy as hell recently with a lot of hassle from college (No, not work, expulsion) and also I've been in a horrible state of mind, but I'm back with an update and raring to go!**

**To those who've stuck by this story and waited for this update, I thank you for your patience and I hope you won't be disappointed :3**

**Chapter Seventeen: The Wrong Kind**

"Ichigo? Are you awake? You're going to be late for school if you don't-"

Ichigo's mother watched as she saw Ichigo walk down the stairs steadily, dressed for the first day back at school with her school bag in her left hand. Her right hand was running itself through her deep red hair that wasn't in its trademark style; instead, she let it hang over her face, showing that she had let it grow past her shoulders.

"Ichigo, want me to book you in for a haircut? Your hair has grown quite a lot this summer."

"If you want to," Ichigo answered, her voice seemed dazed and gave the impression that she was exhausted. "I'm just gonna head out now, don't wanna be late for school-" As she approached the front door, Ichigo's mother stopped her.

"Hold on, I want to talk to you about something." Ichigo's mother led her into the dining room where her father was sat down at the table with a steaming cup of fresh coffee reading the day's events in the local paper. He looked up when he heard his wife and daughter enter the room, and folded the paper up neatly before placing it down on the table in front of him; his eyes were focused on Ichigo.

For the past few months Ichigo and her father hadn't got along, purely for the reason that Mr. Momomiya was worrying about his daughter's actions; ending up in hospital all the time and staying out late. It wasn't like her. His little angel of a daughter who was receiving passing grades at school and always did as she was told was falling into a bad state of mind, and Mr. Momomiya didn't like that at all.

Ichigo's mother sat cautiously next to Ichigo's father, and she gestured Ichigo to copy her, but Ichigo just stood in the doorway, staring back at her father in a confused manner.

There was a long, awkward silence in the room for a while, though the ticking from the clock hanging above them broke it on the second. Eventually, Ichigo's mother spoke, "Honey, your father and I have been thinking about the way you've been behaving recently; you're not eating properly, you're tired, moody – you're letting yourself go too. So we think it's best if we moved away. A fresh start for you."

Ichigo was surprised, but she didn't show it. She actually figured that her mother would have to add some more despair into her life, feeling that she didn't have enough of it already. Ichigo hadn't slept at all last night, and even cried a little at what she had said about not caring about Ryou. She really did care about him, but her mind got the better of her. She knew that she really liked Ryou, and he had made such a huge impact on her life, she felt like she wasn't ready to let him go from her life.

Ichigo suddenly felt her eyes sting with tears, and through them she saw her mother approach her (Obviously thinking that she was crying because of the news) and outstretch an arm for her.

"We also think you should stop being friends with Minto."

Ichigo's heart crashed to a stop when Minto's name was mentioned. Hearing her ex best friend's name reminded her of the vampire she yearned to see again. The way she missed him, it was like he was dead, which is ironic considering he 'can't die'.

"We feel like she's a bad influence on you. She hasn't turned up at Miss Aizawa's house for months. She's fearing the worst. So we think it's best if you didn't follow her example. We're moving to Okinawa, a nice house by the beach. You'll love it, Ichigo-chan."

Ichigo quickly composed herself, wanting to escape the tension in the room and said, "I'm gonna go to school now."

* * *

It was raining in Tokyo on the first day back at High School, and many vehicles polluted the roads. The paths were soaked and every footstep on the ground caused water to splash on people's legs, some disappointment crept up on them as they made their way to their destinations.

Ryou Shirogane was stood outside Maruhoshi Academy, his old school. He remembered being expelled from this school like it was only yesterday, when he covered up for Minto; her jealousy had gotten the better of her and she attacked one of her best friends, hospitalising her and causing a lot of drama to unfold for the Akasaka clan.

Minto had ran away recently, causing a lot of heartache for the Akasaka clan, even though they didn't get on with her as easily as planned. Minto hadn't reacted well to becoming a vampire, which had led to devastating consequences in the past. Ryou remembered having to chase Minto around the town as she refused to accept her new self, something which sparked a strange relationship for the two of them…

* * *

"Get back here Minto!"

"Iie! Go away!"

Ryou quickened his pace as he followed an agitated Minto. She was heading for her high school, and Ryou didn't know why, but he still followed her in hope that he could calm her down.

Minto was bitten by Oujou, after a strange disagreement occurred between the two of them. He told Keiichiro that he wanted Minto to 'suffer' like he had, thus turning her into a vampire, but of course, something went wrong.

When a pure-bred vampire bites someone, they have two choices on what becomes of their victim; they can either bite them and let them change into a supernatural being, or suck all of their blood and let them die. At first, Oujou was going to let Minto die, having developed a strong dislike to her beforehand, but he had a sudden change of heart and left a quarter of her blood left inside her.

Feeling scared and ashamed of what he had done, Oujou quickly called for Keiichiro to help him. Minto was found, but no one was sure what would come of her.

Her skin was ice cold and sickly white and her lips had turned a sad shade of blue. Her eyes were open wide, dark and emotionless, but a single tear emerged softly and trickled down her cheek. Her body was paralysed with her own fear of what would become of her, as she felt herself slipping to death but coming back with supernatural power and slipping into death again.

After three full days of fighting what she was to become, it was decided naturally that she was a half-blooded vampire.

It had taken Minto a month of unsuccessful vampire training to realise that she wasn't cut out from the vampire cloth, and decided to head back to her home for a safer life of a 'human'. Minto may have wanted to be a human, but that wasn't possible for her as she was still 'different'.

Ryou was assigned to look after Minto, may it have been from the shadows or upfront. So when she decided to flee the clan, Ryou went after her determined to change her mind about vampire training.

"Please Minto, listen to us! We're trying to help you here!"

Minto ran faster and faster out of town and ended up in the maze of trees and bushes that was the woods. Her legs were growing numb with tiredness and she was slowing down rapidly. Her breaths were short and weak, and she eventually stopped to catch her breath, placing her hands on her knees.

Ryou quickly caught up with her. He skidded to a stop and watched as she turned round to face him, her face wet from the tears she cried.

"Leave me alone." She panted, looking down at the soft earth.

Ryou walked up to her slowly, his hand outstretched to gently grasp Minto's. "Minto, you need to come back. You've almost completed your training. One more week and you've done it! Come back please, you can do this."

"I can't!" Minto screeched, scaring a few of the birds away that resided in the branches of the trees. "I'm a hopeless half-breed! I can't be a good vampire-"

"You are not hopeless!" Ryou fiercely pulled Minto closer to him, they were millimetres apart. "I'll train you! I'll get permission off Akasaka-san and I'll help you become the best half-vampire you can be!"

Minto looked up at Ryou speechless. She had never really seen this side of him; usually he was sarcastic and a bit grumpy towards her, but recently he had been acting kind and caring – this moment topped it off for her. She gazed into his eyes, feeling a sudden urge to kiss him, but she got a shock, as he kissed her first.

Ryou firmly planted his lips on hers, and it took Minto a few seconds to react and kiss back.

* * *

After that kiss the two of them seemed to have an on/off relationship. Ryou have received permission off Keiichiro to train Minto, which he did, and Minto completed her training swiftly and easily. But their interactions with each other was seen as peculiar and strange, as other clan members noticed that one minute the pair would be biting each others' heads off, and the next they'd be flirtatious and disappear into a bedroom for a while.

Clan members were thankful that Ichigo appeared into Ryou's life, as his relationship with Minto ended, and life in their home was much quieter and easier to enjoy, though they still feared for Minto's life as she was still nowhere to be seen, and Ryou always stopping by, leaving notes for Monika to find to let her and the others know he was okay.

Ryou walked away from his old school, not seeing Minto enter the gates, and somehow made his way to Ichigo's high school, where he saw a familiar face run along the street towards the gate of her school.

She wasn't looking where she was going, and she bumped into Ryou which made her fall to the concrete.

"Ouch!" She hissed, shaking her head and grabbing her bag which fell out of her grip as she hit the ground.

"Ichigo…" Ryou whispered, and as he said her name she froze.

It took her a while before she slowly looked up and saw the tall, icy blonde look down at her with his piercing blue eyes. For a while she thought she was dreaming, until he helped her up gently.

"Ryou?" She was shocked, as he began to smile at her softly, and she too cracked a small smile. She suddenly felt ecstatic, and got a sudden urge to hug him tightly. "Where've you been? I've missed you!"

Ryou returned the hug, but his smile faded, remembering what she had said previously. "I thought you didn't care what I was."

Ichigo loosened her grip on the hug before pulling away, her heart beating faster with fear. He heard her say that? Akira told him she said that? How did he know she said that?

"I was angry." She looked down at the ground. "You left suddenly. After we kissed. I thought I was to blame. I thought it was because we kissed you left."

"Don't think that." Ryou firmly said, Ichigo looked up at him. "I left to clear my mind on a few things, you being one of them…" He sighed heavily, like he didn't want to say what was to come out of his lips. "I've been thinking a lot lately…and I think it's best if we stay away from each other."

Ichigo's heart stopped.

"It's not because I hate you or don't care about you. It's because I _care_ that this needs to be done. I want you to forget me, Ichigo. You need to forget about all the vampires you've met. You need to live your life while you still can. You're only young Ichigo, you have your whole life ahead of you, so don't cut it short by hanging round with the wrong kind. Besides," He raised his hand to her neck, stroking it softly, "A pretty girl like you can do better than hanging round with people who'll take advantage."

He kissed her forehead gently, "Sayonara, Ichigo-chan. May I never forget your strawberry scent." And he walked away, leaving Ichigo stood in shock on the pavement.

* * *

**So, did I disappoint or please? Mega apologies for the slow update!**

** Reviews would be appreciated and I hope you enjoyed reading the chapter :3**


	18. An Ending Creates A New Beginning

**Another update! Yay! Okay, so updates are late, I'm sorry for this! But I've had a LOT of stuff to sort out so my sincerest apologies!**

**People seem to think this was complete? I haven't finished yet! Not by a looooong shot! I was thinking of making this story in two parts, but it would have confused me and maybe some of you? So I'm just sticking to one part :) This has at least 10 chapters to go until it's finished. Well, enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 18: An Ending Creates a New Beginning**

Ichigo stood dumbfounded as she watched Ryou disappear, her heart beating so fast like it wanted to jump out of her body and chase him. Tears began to fall from her face, but she was in too much shock to realise. She couldn't feel the soft wind brush past her immobilized body. She couldn't catch her breath. Her mind went hazy. Her eyesight blurred and within a second, she fell limp to the ground.

* * *

"Seriously, Oujou, this is strange!" Monika was pacing back and forth along the hallway, Oujou sat on the stairs fiddling with a recent paper note left by Ryou, "Why would he suddenly decide to leave? I mean, we're his family! We're supposed to look out for each other, not let our close ones slip from our grasp!"

"You make it sound like he _has_ to stay with us." Oujou scrunched up the piece of paper and threw it at the front door in anger.

"Well of course he does!" Monika screeched, anger slipped off every word like venom, "We're family! He should be with us! To help us! Not to leave us! He's selfish, arrogant, a no-good-"

"Monika! Have you heard yourself?" Oujou shouted back, silencing his girlfriend, "Ryou's the strongest of us all – apart from our elders and Akasaka and Taori, of course. He can look after himself, he's not a child. He's been a vampire longer than the both of us - he knows what he's doing."

Monika looked at Oujou in a confused manner and slowly asked, "What do you mean 'he knows what he's doing'?"

Oujou let out a long, coarse sigh before standing up, "He's left us to protect the red-head." It took a while for Monika to understand who he was talking about, and Oujou continued, " He's worried that the more he's around her, the more the Aoi clan will see Ichigo as a weakness to him, and to us."

"But what's that got to do with him running away?" Monika asked hastily, stepping towards her boyfriend. "Why's he going to this length to protect Ichigo? Why's he risking himself for her? She's not even that special! She's not one of us!" Monika's voice grew slightly aggressive, "She's such a pain! Splitting us up like this! Why did Ryou even bother with the likes of her? She should have-"

Oujou growled, his patience with Monika was wearing thin. He messed up letting slip what Ryou was up to. He knew Monika wouldn't understand. He couldn't bear her constant questioning any longer, which is why he shoved past her in anger; Monika fell backwards, smashing the back of her head against the hall mirror. Her two toned hair was soaked in her own blood, seeping down the shoulders of her white lace top. Oujou watched in horror as she slid to the floor, her eyes rolling to the back of her head as her consciousness was no more.

"Shit."

* * *

The sound and motion of a car woke Ichigo up, and she found herself in the back of her father's car. She could faintly hear her parents chatting happily amongst themselves about a swimming pool and greenhouse.

"The home's greenhouse holds so much it's unbelievable!" Mrs. Momomiya stated in a happy tone. "And the swimming pool has its own filtering system so cleaning is unnecessary. Honey, how did you find such a place?"

"I swapped houses with Kuminori-san from work." Mr. Momomiya replied, focusing on the road. "He felt the house was too big for him alone after his wife died so was thinking of selling it to buy somewhere smaller." Mr. Momomiya stopped at the traffic lights and turned to his wife for a moment. "When he heard we were planning on moving he offered to swap houses; he's liked our house ever since he and his family came over for our New Year's party."

"I must write him letter of thanks then." Mrs. Momomiya smiled, and took a small moment to remember Mr. Kuminori's wife, Hana. She then asked her husband, "Did the children mind about switching houses?"

Mr. Momomiya continued driving along the streets of Tokyo; their new home was in a quiet area away from the huge population of people. They were moving to a quiet neighbourhood, where it was rare for violence to occur and children were free to play on the streets.

Mr. Momomiya turned to his wife for a small second and replied, "They're adults now; June is expecting a daughter and is moving to Okinawa with her fiancé and Kai's going to university in New Zealand."

Her parents hadn't realised that Ichigo was awake, and she startled the pair when she asked them where she was going.

"To our new home Ichigo," Mrs. Momomiya replied; she was speaking oddly formally to her daughter. "When you collapsed outside of school yesterday it put a fast-forward on things." She turned to face Ichigo, a worried smile played with her lips as she reached a hand to stroke her daughter's cheek, "Oh honey, what happened yesterday? I was in tears when the school rang – even your father left work to rush to your side. We'll talk later, sweetie, for now we'll get settled in our new home and relax."

* * *

Taori stared wide-eyed at the pool of blood where Monika's body once lay, shards of glass shone darkly, reflecting the dimming light that burned from the candle chandelier above her. She walked backwards into the staircase and sat lifelessly on the bottom step, her eyes never leaving that spot. A curtain of water showered her eyes before tears slowly spilt down her face.

"Taori –"

"Don't!" She quickly said, holding back her tears. She closed her eyes, still picturing the blood stain on the floor, "Why, Oujou?"

Oujou couldn't look Taori in the eye as he stuttered to come up with an answer. He too was on the verge of tears. His heart was sinking lower and lower. His stomach churned angrily. His breaths were fast like a cheetah's pace.

"Oujou. Answer me."

Oujou growled, "I don't know!"

Taori snapped her head towards him, feeling the blood inside her boil ferociously, "What do you mean you don't know? You must know what made you do this!"

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Oujou cried, "Why would I want to hurt the girl I love on purpose?"

Taori stood and swiftly approached Oujou, her heart pounding faster and faster the angrier she got, "Well you can't love her that much if you killed her!"

As the word 'killed' registered completely in Oujou's mind his whole body shook violently, tears falling from his eyes. He dropped to the floor, leaning against the wall as the realisation of what he had done sunk in more and more.

"What I don't get," Taori began her hand shaking as she raised it a little, "Is why you lashed out in the first place." She sighed; a strangely empathetic look was aimed at Oujou, "Did she do something to make you angry? Did she say anything?"

As Oujou ran the moments prior to his girlfriend's death through his mind, he wondered himself why he got so angry at Monika. What did she say that vexed him so? Was it her selfish disregard for Ryou's disappearance? Or was it that she thought Ichigo was nothing special?

* * *

"Ichigo! Tea time!"

"Okay, one second!"

It was 6:30pm; Ichigo had unpacked her belongings into her new bedroom. Her room was white, with a pink border stretching across the top. The balcony overlooked the back garden where she saw her parents sat at the garden table by the personal swimming pool. They must have planned to eat their dinner outside as the sun was blazing and the air was delightfully warm. Ichigo left her room and joined her parents outside, where her mother greeted her with a wary smile.

Ichigo sat down, feeling unusually nervous. She felt sorry for her parents, having to worry about her so much being in and out of hospital for this and that. She felt bad for making up all the excuses she did to protect the vampires. She was very grateful for their help, but the more they helped her, the more she landed them and herself in trouble, and the more her parents worried about her.

"Mom? Dad?"

The Momomiya's looked up from their plates of food and looked intently at their daughter.

"I'm…I'm sorry. I'm sorry for making you worry about me this semester." She couldn't think of anything else to say, so she waited for a response from her parents.

Mrs. Momomiya looked at her husband who was slowly chewing some food; his eyes were darting here and there, looking at his daughter for a sign of deception of some sort. It wasn't like Ichigo to behave like this, but he put his negative thoughts to the back of his mind, swallowed his food and said, "It's fine, Ichigo. It's a fresh start or us now. On Monday you'll start at a new High school for the new term and be able to get your life back on track."

Ichigo didn't frown at the thought of a new school, but she felt a little uneasy. It wasn't because she was nervous about beginning anew; it was the thought of ending what was once there. A new neighbourhood, new school, new life? What would happen to her old life? What would happen to the vampires? Would they track her down, or let her live a new life away from secrets and lies.

* * *

Monday morning was a dark time for the Akasaka clan; the sky was a dull grey, birds chirped a sad song and a cold atmosphere loomed over them. They were stood outside their home, all wearing the darkest clothing they owned. No one spoke as they waited for a black car to pull up in front of them.

Oujou was stood a little away from the group of people, his mind exhausting itself remembering his girlfriend. What would he do now without Monika? She was everything to him. He had spent all of his immortal years with her – he was the one that turned her immortal.

_Monika looked up at Oujou, her eyes filled with tears. The boy she loved was a vampire – a blood-sucking, super-strong vampire. She strangely didn't think of the negatives of the situation. Only one thing crossed her mind._

"_Can I join you?" _

_Oujou looked down in shock at his girlfriend; he assumed she would leave him when she found out the truth. He despised himself- 5 years he had wished himself dead in hope to rid himself of his monstrous identity. For how would he find someone to share the rest of his life with when his life prolongs forever? _

_A smile tickled his lips as he replied to Monika, "You serious?"_

_Monika nodded once, "I love you Oujou. Nothing can change that. If you're immortal…I want to join you." She looked round for human-life, and when the coast was clear she grabbed Oujou's wrist and took him into the bushes. Taking a deep breath she tilted her neck towards him and lifted her black hair up, "Do it quickly." _

_Oujou watched as Monika's eyes shut tightly in a flinch, her body shaking a little with nerves. He asked her again if she was serious, not wanting her to make a huge mistake._

"_Just hurry!" Nerves and fear took over her voice as she felt him get closer to her, his warm breath on her neck. She gasped as his fangs penetrated her neck, and as a burning sensation travelled through her body she let out a piercing screech._

Everyone was piling into the three black cars that were guarding a longer black car. Taori, Keiichiro and Satoshi got into the front car. The last spot was for Oujou, but he was unsure of whether or not he should go to the funeral; he would only receive menacing glares from everybody seeing as it was his own fault Monika was dead. If only he didn't get so angry all the time. If only…!

Oujou slipped away behind the house, heading for the assortment of foliage behind it. Running at the fastest speed his legs could manage he began to search for the one person he truly thought could put everything right.

* * *

**Sorry if you don't like the ending . **


	19. It's because of you, Ichigo

**Hey everyone! Yes, there's finally an update! I am so sorry for how long it's taken me to do this story. I have been extremely busy with college and work and trying to keep a social life. I hope you understand why it's taken me forever to update and I hope your patience will soon be rewarded. **

**Thank you so much for all your reviews and favourites/alerts for this story. It does help me continue this story. I'm guessing it's gonna have about 3-7 chapters left of this. I have an ending ready so I hope I can get it typed up in time before I lose your interest. Again, thanks and enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 19: It's because of you, Ichigo

"Ichigo-chan! Are you ready?"

Ichigo Momomiya appeared at the top of the stairs dressed in a white sailor fuku styled shirt and dark red skirt. Today was her first day at Kikyo High School, an all-gender public school. Mrs. Momomiya had explained Ichigo's situation to the head of the school, and was allowed entrance to the school without having to do the entrance exam, as long as she sustained high grades and showed a positive behaviour.

"Hai," Ichigo stepped down the stairs with a happy spring in her step. All week she had been relaxing her mind. Her mother took her shopping for new room décor, her father paid for her to have a spa day with her mother (Believing that this would help Ichigo warm up to him again), and Ichigo had invited Zakuro and Purin over the previous night.

The two girls were worried about Minto and Retasu; they had been missing for a while now, and Ichigo knew at least one of their whereabouts.

"Retasu went to Australia to visit some ill family members," Ichigo lied to them, not being able to tell them she was in fact a vampire. "It was a bit sudden, and she didn't have much time to explain to us what was happening. I only know because she needed one of her outfits back I borrowed off her a few months ago."

Zakuro and Purin had bought everything she said about Retasu, but the three of them still worried about Minto as she was still nowhere to be seen. Where could she be?

Ichigo shook her head at the thought of caring for Minto. Minto despised her, it wasn't right to care for someone who felt like that. But she was her friend, no matter what.

Ichigo left her house at 8am precisely (School started at 9) so she had a chance to remember where she was going. The area was without a doubt confusing to her, as she had only ventured here twice and that was when she went shopping and had the spa day. Her stomach was flipping at the thought of a new school and new people.

The school was in the city, by the shopping centre. Ichigo knew that if she made it that far she'd know the rest of the way easily.

But she couldn't find the way.

The path Ichigo followed did not lead to the city, but a more barren land of woods and wild flowers. Trees were scattered everywhere as there was now no clear path. Ichigo's feet sank into thick mud with each step she took into the woods.

Maybe this is a shortcut? She thought optimistically to herself as she approached a large, mossy rock which was oddly perched in the middle of a stone path. She walked around it, but something obstructed her feet and she flew to the floor.

"Ouch!" She cried out, and sat upright on the floor, pulling her knees up to her chest; they were grazed badly, blood trickled wonkily down her leg and stained her white socks.

Ichigo hadn't noticed what she tripped over until a low growl emitted from it. Her eyes widened with shock as she looked up at what, who, was in front of her.

"Oujou?"

Oujou looked through his red hair, that was hiding his eyes, directly at Ichigo. He felt his heart pound fast and hard. Ichigo's heart was doing the same, and she scooched over quickly to him and wrapped her arms around him.

"Oujou, are you okay?" She squeezed him tightly, and she was surprised when she felt him hug her back.

"I'm fine," He felt himself smile and slowly pull away from Ichigo. "What're you doing so far from your home?"

Ichigo smiled awkwardly, "I moved home, then got lost on the way to my new school."

Oujou laughed a little, and Ichigo blushed; it made her think of Ryou, as that would have been how he would have reacted to what she said. "What school are you attending?"

"Kikyo High," Ichigo replied slowly, and looked around her, "Where am I?"

"Not in Tokyo, I can tell you that," Oujou stood up, stretched his arms out and then held his hand out for Ichigo to get up. She softly held his hand, admiring how soft his hands were, and was helped up swiftly.

"Thanks," She smiled, and dusted herself off, "How do I get back to Tokyo then?"

Oujou thought for a moment before answering. Did he want to show her the way? Or did he want to prolong their encounter? It had been a long time since he last saw Ichigo, and he had missed her too much.

"Ichigo, you do realise you're an hour late for school?"

"It's 10 already?" She screamed, and then sighed in a defeated manner, "My parents are gonna kill me."

"They won't kill you if you don't go back home." Oujou calmly stated.

Ichigo sent a confused look at Oujou, wondering what he was proposing with his statement. Was this an offer for something?

"If you want, we can go somewhere, away from here, just the two of us." He slowly approached Ichigo, and when he was close enough he slinked his strong arms around her waist and pulled her in. "Or, if you want to, we can go and find Ryou, unless you two are over."

"Over?" Ichigo was struggling to comprehend, "We were never together."

"I'm glad to hear that." Oujou smirked a little, and slowly grew close to Ichigo's face."You deserve much better than him." His voice was forming into a low growl, "You need someone who won't let you down. Who'll protect you, not land you in danger." Ichigo could feel his breath on her lips, "Ichigo, let me protect you." Oujou softly touched Ichigo's lips with his own.

Ichigo slowly pulled back, "Oujou, you're with Monika, you can't do this."

Oujou sighed, the thought of Monika turning his mood harsh, "Monika isn't here anymore."

"What do you mean by that?"

Oujou growled with annoyance at Ichigo's question. He would have rather not said anything about Monika to Ichigo, he wanted to make her happy, not upset her. He finally composed himself, and took a deep breath before answering, "She's dead, Ichigo."

Ichigo felt her heart stop for two reasons; one was that one of her closest friends was dead. Monika was always so kind to Ichigo, and always by her side. The second reason was because Oujou sounded oddly content about Monika's death, like he couldn't care less.

Ichigo gulped down a lump in her throat before asking how she died.

Oujou stepped away from Ichigo, feeling himself shake. "It's because of you, Ichigo."

"Me?" Ichigo sounded very panicky. A rush of guilt swept through her body.

"If you never found out about us, Monika would still be here." Oujou looked down at this hands which were curled tightly into fists.

"How did I kill her?" Ichigo was getting angry; her voice increased in volume and grew stern.

Oujou stepped back from Ichigo, backing into the rock. He slumped down, pulled his knees up and looked directly at her. "You don't realise how amazing you are, do you?"

"Excuse me?" Ichigo was definitely confused.

"You're one of a kind, Ichigo. Attractive, great personality. You light up any room you walk in…and you can also send us crazy."

"I'm not following."

"You make the guys fall at your feet, and the girls despise you. You're perfect, Ichigo. But you've harmed our clan. Ryou was fine until you showed up. Minto wouldn't have run away if you hadn't seeped into his mind." His voice quietened, "And Monika would still be here if you didn't get into mine."

As each word spilled from Oujou's mouth, Ichigo felt more and more guilty. She hadn't meant to cause so much trouble. She also wished she hadn't met the clan, but she knew it couldn't be helped now.

"Why did you follow Ryou that night, Ichigo?"

Ichigo was startled by Oujou's sudden question, and it took her a while to compose an answer in her mind.

"He was amazing to me." She simply said, a tear forming in her eye as she remembered that very moment when she followed him into the park. "He was mysterious, gorgeous, he drew me in like a bug is drawn to light…" She trailed off as she began to cry heavily. "Oh, Oujou, I can't deal with this anymore! I miss Ryou too much. I need to know where he is."

And then those words slipped her mouth, the words she had wanted to say to him. "I love him."

* * *

It was a cool, Monday morning when Ryou emerged from his temporary home and took it upon himself to stretch his legs and explore the surroundings. He was on the outskirts of Tokyo, in a barren forest land full of flowers. This had been his home for some time now, as he had been able to keep an eye for people he wanted to observe, like the redhead who drove him crazy.

He hadn't seen Ichigo since he told her they should stay away from each other, and she hadn't left his mind since that day. Since the day they first met. He had tried to find her outside her home after he told her they shouldn't see each other anymore, but he noticed an old-ish man had moved in, meaning the Momomiya's had moved out.

He checked daily to see if she did in fact still live there, but it was just that old man. And the previous day he waited outside the house until 5 o'clock, when the old man got home.

He walked up to his house, noticing Ryou stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the gate to the house. He was quite intimidated by Ryou, but was shocked when he spoke so politely to him.

"Excuse me, do you happen to know what happened to the old habitants of this house?"

"Ah, the Momomiyas! Yes, erm, they live on the other side of Tokyo now. 12 Ringo Street. You can't miss the street, it's a 5 minute walk away from the city. Apple trees are all along the street."

"Thank you, sir." Ryou bowed his head and then swiftly walked away, his heart beating hard.

He told himself that this would be the morning he would find the house. He was too exhausted last night to find the house as he hadn't eaten in weeks. His skin was aging terribly, and his eyes looked drained and dull.

He stopped his steps however, when he heard a familiar voice speak his name.

"Why did you follow Ryou that night, Ichigo?"

He quietened his steps and drew closer, wanting to know who was speaking his name. He listened in on the conversation, and was surprised to hear his favourite red head speak about him. Butterflies were fluttering in his stomach, his heart was racing with joy. It was definitely Ichigo's voice. And he overheard the most life-changing sentence come from her lips.

"I love him."

A smile tugged at his lips, and he let it. He was so elated to hear those words come from Ichigo.

"I'm gonna try and find my way home now, Oujou. If that's okay?"

Ryou heard Oujou mutter something back to Ichigo, and a single pair of feet was coming towards Ryou. He turned swiftly to discover who's they were. They were female. Ichigo?

She hadn't noticed his presence yet; her head was down, every now and then her body shook. Was she crying?

Ryou stopped in front of her, and she still hadn't noticed someone was in front of her. She eventually walked into him, and he held his arms out to catch her.

A small scream emitted from Ichigo, and when she looked up to apologise, her eyes widened.


End file.
